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THE    MAKERS    OF    AUSTRALASIA 

EDITED  BY 

JAMES   HiaHT,    M.A.,  Litt.D., 


liECTUEEB   ON  HISTOHY  AND  ECONOMICS 
CANTEBBUBY  COLLEGE. 


THE  MAKERS  OF  AUSTRALASIA. 


EARLY   VOLUMES 

(IN  PREPARATION). 


CAPTAIN  COOK  and  his  Predecessors  in  Australasian 
Waters,  by  Eeginald  Ford,  F.R.G.S.,  Member  of  the  British- 
National  Antarctic  Expedition. 

COVERNOR    PHILLIP    and    his    Immediate    Successors, 

by  F.  M.  Bladen,  Chief  Librarian,  Public  Library,  Sydney. 

EDWARD  GIBBON  WAKEFIELD,  by  The  Editor. 

SIR  GEORGE  GREY,  by  James  GOLLIEB,  sometime  Librarian,  General 
Assembly  Library,  Wellington. 


Caiitain  Charles  Sturt,  aged  about  54  years.    From  the  painting  by  Crossland. 


\^' 


tri^^ 


THE 


Explorers  of  Australia 


AND    THEIR    LIFE-WORK. 


ERNEST    FAVENC, 

Explorer,  and  Author  of  "  The  History  of  Australian  Exploration,"  '   The  Geographical 

Development  of  Australia,"   "Tales  of  the  Austral  Tropics,"   "The  Secret  of 

the  Australian  Desert,"  &o.,  and  "Voices  of  the  Desert"  (Poems). 


Christchurch,  Wellington  and  Dunedin,  N.Z.  ; 
Melbourne  and  London: 

WHITCOMBE    AND    TOMBS    LIMITED. 

1908. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/explorersofaustrOOfaveuoft 


AUTHOE'S   PEEFACE. 


In  presenting  to  the  public  this  history  of  those  makers  of 
Australasia  whose  work  consisted  in  the  exploration  of  the  surface 
of  the  continent  of  Australia,  I  have  much  pleasure  in  drawing  the 
reader's  attention  to  the  portraits  which  illustrate  the  text.  It  is,  I 
venture  to  say,  the  most  complete  collection  of  portraits  of  the 
explorers  that  has  yet  been  published  in  one  volume.  Some  of 
them  of  course  must  needs  be  conventional ;  but  many  of  them, 
such  as  the  portrait  of  Oxley  when  a  young  man,  and  of 
A.  C.  Gregory,  have  never  been  given  publicity  before ;  and  in 
many  cases  I  have  selected  early  portraits,  whenever  I  had  the 
opportunity,  in  preference  to  the  oft  published  portrait  of  the  same 
subject  when  advanced  in  years. 

There  are  many  who  assisted  me  in  the  collection  of  these 
portraits.  To  Mr.  F.  Bladen,  of  the  Public  Library,  Sydney ; 
Mr.  Malcolm  Fraser,  of  Perth,  W.A. ;  Mr.  Thomas  Gill,  of 
Adelaide ;  Sir  John  Forrest ;  The  Eevd.  J.  Milne  Curran ; 
Mr.  Archibald  Meston ;  and  many  others  my  best  thanks  are 
due.  In  fact,  in  such  a  work  as  this,  one  cannot  hope  for  success 
unless  he  seek  the  assistance  of  those  who  remembered  the 
explorers  in  life,  or  have  heard  their  friends  and  relatives  talk 
familiarly  of  them.  Let  me  particularly  hope  that  from  these  pages 
our  youth,  wha  should  be  interested  in  the  exploration  of  their 
native  land,  will  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  character  of  the  men 
who  helped  to  make  Australia,  and  of  some  of  the  adverse  conditions 
against  which  they  struggled  so  nobly. 

Ernest  Favenc. 

Sydney,  1908. 


BIBLIOGEAPHY. 


The  published  Journals  of  all  the  Explorers  of  Australia. 

Reports  of  Explorations  published  in  Parliamentary  Papers. 

History  of  New  South  Wales,  from  the  Records.     (Barton  and  Bladen.) 

Account  of  New  South  Wales,  by  Captain  Watkin  Tench. 

Manuscript  Diaries  of  Blaxland,  Lawson  and  Wentworth. 

Manuscript  Diaries  of  G.  W.  Evans.     (Macquarie  and  Lachlan  Rivers.) 

The  Pioneers  of  Victoria  and  South  Australia,  by  various  writers. 

Contemporaneous  Australian  Journals  of  the  several  States. 

Private  letters  and  memoranda  of  persons  in  all  the  States. 

Manuscript  Diary  of  Charles  Bonney. 

Pamphlets  and  other  bound  extracts  on  the  subject  of  exploration. 

The  Year  Book  of  Western  Australia. 

Records  of  the  Geographical  Societies  of  South  Australia  and  Victoria. 

Russell's  Genesis  of  Queensland. 

Biographical  Notes,  by  J.  H.  Maiden. 

Spinifex  and  Sand,  by  David  Carnegie. 


INTEODUCTION. 


In  introducing  this  book,  I  should  Hke  to  commend  it  to  its 
readers  as  giving  an  account  of  the  explorers  of  Australia  in  a 
simple  and  concise  form  not  hitherto  available. 

It  introduces  them  to  us,  tells  the  tale  of  their  long-tried  patience 
and  stubborn  endurance,  how  they  lived  and  did  their  work,  and 
gives  a  short  but  graphic  outline  of  the  work  they  accomplished  in 
opening  out  and  preparing  Australia  as  another  home  for  our  race 
on  this  side  of  the  world. 

The  battle  that  they  fought  and  won  was  over  great  natural 
difficulties  and  obstacles,  as  fortunately  there  were  no  ferocious  wild 
beasts  in  Australia,  while  the  danger  from  the  hostility  of  the 
aborigines  (though  a  barbarous  people)  was  with  care  and  judgment, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  avoided. 

Their  triumph  has  resulted  in  peaceful  progress  and  in  permanent 
occupation  and  settlement  of  a  vast  continent. 

Of  all  the  Australian  explorers  the  fate  of  Leichhardt — "  the 
Franklin  of  Australia,"  as  the  author  so  justly  terms  him — is  alone 
shrouded  in  mystery.  "  No  man  knoweth  his  sepulchre  to  this 
day."  His  party  of  six  white  men  (including  Leichhardt)  and 
two  black  boys,  with  12  horses,  13  mules,  50  bullocks,  and 
270  goats,  have  never  been  heard  of  since  they  left  McPherson's 
station  on  the  Cogoon  on  3rd  April,  1848  ;  and  although  there  have 
been  several  attempts  to  unravel  the  mystery,  there  is  scarcely  a 
possibility  of  any  discovery  in  regard  to  their  fate  ever  being  made. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  fascination  concerning  the  work 
of  the  early  explorers  of  Australia  will  "  gather  strength  as  it  goes." 
Hitherto  we  have  been  too  close  to  them  rightly  to  appreciate  what 
was  done.  This  book  therefore  comes  at  an  opportune  time,  and  is 
a  valuable  record.  The  author  has  already  done  a  great  service  to 
Australian  explorations  by  his  writings,  and  in  the  present  instance 
has  added  to  our  obligation  to  him  by  condensing  the  records  into  a 
smaller  compass,  and  by  that  means  has  brought  it  within 
convenient  limits  for  use  in  schools  and  for  general  readers. 

Of  the  explorers  of  Australia,  eleven  have  been  honoured,  by  being 
placed   on    the    "Golden   Eoll "    (Gold    Medallists)    of    the   Eoyal 


X  INTEODUCTION 

Geographical  Society  of  London  ;  Edward  John  Eyre  being  the  first 
to  receive  the  honour  in  1843,  and  Ernest  Giles  being  the  eleventh 
and  last  to  receive  it  in  1880.  In  the  order  of  Nature  "  one  gen- 
eration passeth  avs^ay  and  another  generation  cometh,"  and  so  it 
comes  to  pass  that  every  one  on  the  "  Golden  Eoll"  except  myself 
has  gone  to  "  the  undiscovered  country  from  whose  bourn  no  traveller 
returns." 

That  the  Australian  people  will  always  remember  the  deeds  of 
those,  who,  in  their  day  and  generation,  under  arduous  and  difficult 
conditions  devoted  themselves  to  the  exploration  of  the  Continent 
goes  without  saying,  and  I,  who  in  bygone  years  had  the  honour  of 
assisting  in  the  task,  heartily  wish  that  such  fruit  may  be  born  of 
those  deeds  that  Australia  will  continue  to  increase  and  flourish 
more  and  more  abundantly,  and  thus  fulfil  her  destiny  as  the  great 
civilising  and  dominating  power  in  the  Southern  Seas. 

JOHN   FOEEEST. 
"  The  Bungalow," 

Hay  Street,  Perth, 

Western  Australia, 

January  7th,  1908. 


CONTENTS. 


Peeface 

PAGE 

vii. 

BIBLIOGEAPHY 

viii. 

INTRODUCTION ,  by  Sir  John  Forrest ... 

ix. 

Contents 

xi. 

List  of  Illustrations  ... 

xiii. 

PAET  I. — Basteen  Australia. 

Chaptek. 

I.    Origins 

(i.)  Governor  Phillip 

(ii.)  Captain  Tench 

(iii.)  The  Blue  Mountains  :  Barallier... 
(iv.)  The  Blue  Mountains  :  Blaxland... 

1 

1 
4 
4 
7 

II. 

George  William  Evans 

(i.)  First  Inland  Exploration 
(ii.)  The  Lachlan  River    ... 
(iii.)  The  Unknown  West  ... 

16 
16 
19 
21 

III. 

JOHN  OXLEY     ... 

(i.)  General  Biography     ... 

(ii.)  His  First  Expedition... 

(iii.)  The  Liverpool  Plains... 

(iv.)  The  Brisbane  Eiver    ... 

23 
23 
26 
32 
.39 

IV. 

HAMILTON  Hume 
(i.)  Early  Achievements  ... 
(ii.)  Discovery  of  the  Hume  (Murray) 

42 

42 
44 

V. 

ALLAN  Cunningham 
(i.)  Coastal  Expeditions  ... 
(ii.)  Pandora's  Pass 

(iii.)  The  Darling  Downs  ... 

50 
50 
52 
53 

VI. 

Charles  Sturt 

(i.)  Early  Life 
(ii.)  The  Darling 
(iii.)  The  Passage  of  the  Murray 

59 
59 
60 
67 

VII. 

Sir  Thomas  Mitchell  ... 

(i.)  Introductory 

(ii.)  The  Upper  Darling    ... 
(iii.)  The  Passage  of  the  Darling 
(iv.)  Australia  Felix 

(v.)  Discovery  of  the  Barcoo 

76 
76 

78 
80 

84 
88 

VIII. 

THE  Early  Forties 

(i.)  Angas  McMillan  and  Gippsland  ... 

(ii.)  Count  Strzelecki 
(iii.)  Patrick  Leslie 
(iv.)  Ludwie  Leichhardt    ... 

93 
93 
94 
95 
95 

Xll 


CONTENTS 


Chaptkr 
IX. 


X. 


Edmund  B.  Kennedy    ... 
(i.)  The  Victoria  River  and  Cooper's  Creek 
(ii.)  A  Tragic  Expedition  ... 

Later  Exploration  in  the  North-East 
(i.)  Walker  in  Search  of  Burke  and  Wills 
(ii.)  Burdekin  and  Cape  York  Expeditions 


PAQIS 
110 
110 

112 

122 
122 
123 


PAET  II. — Central  Australia 

XI.    Edward  John  Eyre 

(i.)  Settlement  of  Adelaide  and  the  Overlanders 
(ii.)  Eyre's  Chief  Journeys 

XII.  Attempts  to  Reach  the  Centre 

(i.)  Lake  Torrens  Pioneers  and  Horrocks 
(ii.)  Charles  Sturt 

XIII,  B  ABB  AGE  AND  STUART    ... 

(i.)  B.  Herschel  Babbage... 
(ii.)  John  McDouall  Stuart 

XIV.  Burke  and  Wills 


XV.    Burke  and  Wills  Relief  Expeditions  and  Attempts 
TOWARDS  Perth    ... 

(i.)  John  McKinlay 

(ii.)  William  Landsborough 
(iii.)  Major  P.  E.  Warburton 
(iv.)  William  Christie  Gosse 

XVI.    Traversing  the  Centre 

(i.)  Ernest  Giles 

(ii.)  W.  H.  Tietkins  and  Others 


PAET  III. — Western  Australia. 

XVII.    Roe,  Grey,  and  Gregory 
(i.)  Roe  and  the  Pioneers 
(ii.)  Sir  George  Grey 
(iii.)  Augustus  C.  Gregory  ... 

XVIII.    A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  Gregory 

(i.)  A.  C.  Gregory  on  Sturt 's  Creek  and  the  Barcoo 
(ii.)  Frank  T.  Gregory 

XIX.    From  West  to  east 

(i.)  Austin       ...  ... 

(ii.)  Sir  John  Forrest 
(iii.)  Alexander  Forrest 

XX.    Later  Western  Expeditions 

(i.)  Cambridge  Gulf  and  the  Kimberley  District 
(ii.)  Lindsay  and  the  Elder  Exploring  Expedition 
(iii.)  Wells  and  Carnegie  in  the  Northern  Desert... 
(iv.)  Hann  and  Brockman  in  the  North- West 

Index  OF  Names  OF  Persons 

Index  of  Place  Names  ... 


ILLUSTEATIONS. 


PAGE 

Charles  Sturt 

. .   Frontispiece 

Gregory  Blaxland     ... 

...       9 

George  William  Evans 

...     16 

John  Oxley 

...     25 

Lachlan  River 

...     31 

Hamilton  Hume 

...     42 

Allan  Cunningham  ... 

...     50 

The  Cunningham  Memorial,  Sydney  ... 

...     57 

Darling  River 

...     65 

Junction  of  Darling  and  Murray  Rivers 

...     71 

Sir  Thomas  Mitchell 

...     76 

A  Chief  of  the  Bogan  River  Tribe 

...     81 

Ludwig  Leichhardt  ... 

...     96 

John  Frederick  Mann 

...  105 

Edmund  B.  Kennedy 

...  110 

Wild  Blacks  of  Cape  York     ... 

...  117 

Frank  Jardine 

...  124 

Alec  Jardine 

...  126 

John  McDouall  Stuart 

...  134 

Edward  John  Eyre  ... 

...  139 

John  Ainsworth  Horrocks 

...  152 

Sturt's  Depot  Glen  ... 

...  159 

Poole's  Grave  and  Monument 

...  163 

B.  Herschel  Babbage 

...  169 

John  McDouall  Stuart 

...  175 

Robert  O'Hara  Burke 

"...  186 

William  John  Wills 

...   187 

Scenes  on  Cooper's''  Creek  (Howitt) 

...  191 

John  King ... 

...  195 

Edwin  J.  Welch 

...  196 

Burke  and  Wills  Mohument,  Melbourne 

...  199 

Major  P.  E.  Warburton 

...  209 

William  Christie  Gosse 

...  214 

Baron  Sir  Ferdinand  von  Mueller 

...  217 

Caravan  of  Camels  in  an  AustraUan  Desert 

...  219 

W.  H.  Tietkins 

...  222 

Ernest  Favenc 

...  225 

John  Septimus  Roe ... 

...  282 

Sir  George  Grey 

...  237 

Rock  Painting 

...  239 

Augustus  C.  Gregory 

...  243 

Frank  T.  Gregory    ... 

...  254 

XIV 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Maitland  Brown 

... 

..  261 

Sir  John  Forrest  (1874) 

... 

..  268 

Members  of  Geraldton — Adelaide  Exploring  Expedition,  1874     ... 

..  276 

Alexander  Forrest    ... 

..  279 

W.  Carr-Boyd 

..  281 

Sir  Thomas  Elder    ... 

..  283 

David  Lindsay 

..  284 

L.  A.  WeUs 

..  286 

David  Wynford  Carnegie 

..  289 

Prank  Hann 

..  292 

Aboriginal  Rock  Painting, 

Glenelg  River 

..  294 

Typical  Australian  Explorers  of  the  Early  Twentieth  Century  ... 

..  295 

Ernest  Giles 

..  296 

MAPS  AND   PLANS. 


1. — Routes  of  Blaxland,  Wentworth,  and  Lawson   (1813) ;    Evans  (1813) ; 

Oxley  (1817,  1818,  1823);   and  Sturt  (1828-9)     ...  ...  ...     11 

2.— Routes  of  Hume  and  Hovell  (1824) ;    Sturt   (1829-30) ;   and   Mitchell 

(1836)  ...  ...  ...  45 

3.— Routes  of  Sturt  (1829-30)  ;   and  Hume  and  Hovell  (1824)    ...  ...     61 

4.— Routes  of  Leichhardt  (1844-5) ;  Mitchell  (1845-6) ;  and  Kennedy  (1847-8)     97 
5.— Routes  of  Eyre  (1840-1)...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  141 

6. — Basin  of  Lake  Torrens,  supposed  extent  and  formation  of  ...  ...  161 

7. — Route  of  Sturt's  Central  Australian  Expedition  (1844-6)      ...  ...  165 

8.— Routes  of  Stuart  (1858-62);  and  Burke  and  Wills  (1860-1)...  ...  177 

9.— Routes   of    Grey   (1836-7-9);    Forrest   (1869,    1870,    1874,    1879);   and 

Giles  (1873)    ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  271 


Part   1. 
EASTERN    AUSTRALIA. 


EEEATA. 

Page  26,  line  5,  for  "  Frazer  "  read  "  Fraser." 

Page  46,  line  18,  for  "  a  few  bushmen  "  read  "  some  bush  utensils. 


Chapter  I. 
OEIGINS. 


(i.) — GovERNOE  Phillip. 

Arthur  Phillip,  whose  claim  to  be  considered  the  first 
inland  explorer  of  the  south-eastern  portion  of  Australia 
rests  upon  his  discovery  of  the  Hawkesbury  Eiver  and  a 
few  short  excursions  to  the  northward  of  Port  Jackson, 
had  but  scant  leisure  to  spare  from  his  official  duties 
for  extended  geographical  research.  For  all  that, 
Phillip  and  a  few  of  his  officers  were  sufficiently  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  discovery  to  find  opportunity  to 
investigate  a  considerable  area  of  country  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  settlement,  and, 
considering  the  fact  that  all  their  explorations  at  the  time 
had  to  be  laboriously  conducted  on  foot,  they  did  their 
work  well. 

The  first  excursion  undertaken  by  Phillip  was  on  the 
■2nd  of  March,  1788,  when  he  went  to  Broken  Bay,  whence, 
after  a  slight  examination,  he  was  forced  to  return  by 
the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  On  the  15th  of  April  he 
made  another  attempt  to  ascertain  the  character  and 
features  of  the  unknown  land  that  he  had  taken 
possession  of.  Landing  on  the  shore  of  the  harbour,  a 
short  distance  from  the  North  Head,  he  started  on  a  tour 
of  examination,  and,  in  the  course  of  his  march, 
penetrated  to  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles  from  the 
coast.  At  this  point  he  caught  sight  of  the 
■distant  range  that  was  destined  to  baffle  for  many 
years  the  western  progress  of  the  early  settlers. 
Phillip,  on  this  his  first  glimpse  of  it,  christened 
the  northern  elevations  the  Caermarthen  Hills,  and  the 
southern  elevations  the  Lansdowne;  and  a  remarkable 
hill,  destined  to  become  a  well-known  early  landmark,  he 

B 


2  EXPLORERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 

called  Eichmond  Hill.  In  the  brief  view  he  had  of  this 
range,  there  was  suddenly  born  in  Phillip's  mind  the 
conviction  that  a  large  river  must  have  its  source  therein, 
and  that  upon  the  banks  of  such  a  river,  the  soil  would  be 
found  more  arable  than  about  the  present  settlement.  He 
at  once  made  up  his  mind  to  try  and  gain  the  range  on  a 
different  course. 

A  week  later  he  landed  at  the  head  of  the  harbour  and 
directed  his  march  straight  inland,  hoping  to  reach  either 
the  mountains,  which  he  knew  to  be  there,  or  the  river  in 
whose  existence  he  firmly  believed.  Disappointment 
dogged  his  steps;  on  the  first  day  a  belt  of  dense  scrub 
forced  his  party  to  return  and  when,  on  the  morrow,  they 
avoided  the  scrub  by  following  up  a  small  creek 
and  got  into  more  thinly  timbered  country,  their  slow 
progress  enabled  them  to  accomplish  only  thirty  miles  in 
five  days.  By  that  time,  they  were  short  of  provisions; 
there  was  no  river  visible,  and  the  range  still  looked 
on  them  from  afar.  What  cheered  them  was  the  sight 
of  some  land  that  promised  richly  to  reward  the  labour 
of  cultivation. 

It  was  not  until  the  6th  of  June,  1789,  that  Phillip 
resumed  his  labours  in  the  field  of  exploration.  The 
* '  Sirius ' '  had  then  returned  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
and  he  could  reckon  on  the  assistance  of  his  friend. 
Captain  Hunter,  to  re-investigate  Broken  Bay  with  the 
vessel's  boats.  Accordingly,  two  boats  were  sent  on  to 
Broken  Bay  with  provisions,  where  they  were  joined  by 
the  Governor  and  his  party,  who  had  marched  overland. 
Besides  Phillip,  the  party  consisted  of  Captain  Hunter 
and  two  of  his  officers.  Captain  Collins,  Captain  Johnston, 
and  Surgeon  White. 

For  two  days  they  were  engaged  in  examining  the  many 
inlets  and  openings  of  the  Bay,  and  on  the  third,  they 
chanced  upon  a  branch  that  had  before  escaped  their 
notice.  They  proceeded  to  explore  it,  and  found  the  river 
of  which  Phillip  had  dreamed.  The  next  day,  renewed 
examination  proved  that  it  was  indeed  a  noble  river, 
with  steep  banks  and  a  depth  of  water  that  promised  well 
for  navigation. 


ORIGINS  6 

After  their  return  to  Sydney  Cove,  preparations  were 
at  once  made  to  follow  up  this  important  discovery.  On 
the  28th  of  June,  Phillip,  again  accompanied  by  Hunter, 
left  the  Cove,  having  made  much  the  same  arrangements 
as  before.  There  was  a  slight  misunderstanding  with 
regard  to  meeting  the  boat;  but,  after  this  was  cleared 
away,  the  party  soon  floated  out  on  to  the  waters  of  the 
new-found  river.  They  rowed  up  the  river  until  they 
reached  the  hill  that  Phillip,  at  a  distance,  had  christened 
Eichmond  Hill.  On  traversing  a  reach  of  the  stream, 
the  main  range,  that  as  yet  they  had  only  dimly  seen 
in  the  distance,  suddenly  loomed  ahead  of  them,  frowning 
in  rugged  grandeur  close  upon  them,  as  it  seemed. 
Struck  with  admiration  and  astonishment  at  this 
unexpected  revelation  of  the  deep  ravines  and  stern  and 
gloomy  gorges  that  scored  its  front,  over  which  hung  a 
blue  haze,  Phillip,  almost  involuntarily,  named  them  on 
the  moment,  the  Blue  Mountains.  Next  morning  the 
explorers  ascended  Richmond  Hill,  from  whose  crest  they 
looked  across  a  deep,  wooded  valley  to  the  mountains  still 
many  miles  away.  After  a  hasty  examination  of  the 
country  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  Phillip  and  his  band 
returned  to  the  settlement,  he  having  now  realised  his 
brightest  hopes  and  anticipations. 

On  the  11th  of  April,  1791,  Phillip  again  started  on  an 
expedition,  the  object  of  which  was  a  closer  inspection 
of  the  Blue  Mountains.  He  was  accompanied  this  time 
by  Captain  Tench  and  Lieutenant  Dawes;  the  latter,  in 
December,  1789,  had  been  sent  out  with  a  small  party  to 
reach  the  foot  of  the  range,  but  had  succeeded  in 
approaching  only  within  eleven  miles  of  the  Mountains, 
whence  he  was  forced  to  retire  by  the  rugged  and  broken 
nature  of  the  country.  On  the  present  occasion,  they 
reached  the  river  two  days  after  leaving  Rose  Hill.  They 
followed  it  for  another  two  days,  but  made  no  further 
discoveries,  being  greatly  delayed  by  the  constant  detours 
around  the  heads  of  small  tributary  creeks,  too  deep  to 
cross  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  river. 

This  was  the  last  exploring  expedition  undertaken  by 
Governor  Phillip.     Considering  that  his  health  was  not 


4  EXPLORERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 

robust,  and  that  the  work  entailed  was  of  a  specially 
arduous  nature,  his  personal  share  in  exploring  the 
country  about  the  little  settlement  was  noteworthy.  It 
proved  him  to  possess  both  the  foresight  and  the  energy 
necessary  in  an  explorer. 

(ii.) — Captain    Tench. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1789,  Captain  Watkin  Tench,, 
who,  during  his  short  sojourn  in  the  infant  colony  showed 
himself  as  zealous  in  exploration  as  he  was  keen  in  his 
observations,  started  from  the  newly-formed  redoubt  at 
Rose  Hill,  of  which  he  was  in  command,  on  a  short 
excursion  to  examine  the  surrounding  country.  This  trip, 
inspired  by  Tench's  ardent  love  of  discovery,  became  a 
noteworthy  one  in  the  annals  of  New  South  Wales.  It  was 
made  during  the  month  that  witnessed  the  discovery  of 
the  Hawkesbury  River.  On  the  second  day  after  his  party 
left  Rose  Hill,  they  found  themselves  early  in  the  morning 
on  "the  banks  of  a  river,  nearly  as  broad  as  the  Thames 
at  Putney,  and  apparently  of  great  depth,  the  current 
running  very  slowly  in  a  northerly  direction. ' ' 

This  river,  at  first  known  as  the  Tench,  was  afterwards 
named  the  Nepean  by  Phillip,  when  its  identity  as  a 
tributary  of  the  Hawkesbury  had  been  confirmed.  Two 
other  slight  excursions  were  made  by  Tench  in 
company  with  Lieutenant  Dawes,  who  was  in  charge  of 
the  Observatory,  and  ex-surgeon  Worgan.  In  May,  1791, 
Tench  and  Dawes  started  from  Rose  Hill  and  confirmed 
the  supposition  that  the  Nepean  was  an  affluent  of  the 
Hawkesbury,  a  matter  over  which  there  had  been  some 
doubt  since  its  first  discovery  by  Tench.  Tench  returned 
to  England  in  H.M.S.  ''Gorgon,"  in  December,  1791. 

The  names  of  Paterson,  Johnson,  Palmer,  and  Laing 
are  also  connected  with  exploration  on  the  upper 
Hawkesbury. 

(iii.) — The   Blue   Mountains:     Barallier. 

The  exploration  of  that  portion  of  Australia  which  was 
accessible  by  the  scanty  means  of  the  early  settlers  was 


ORIGINS  0 

for  many  years  impeded  by  the  stern  barrier  of  the 
mountains,  and  most  of  their  efforts  in  the  direction 
of  discovery  were  aimed  at  surmounting  the  range  that 
defied  their  attacks.  Among  the  many  whose  attempts 
were  signalised  only  by  failure  were  the  gallant  Bass, 
whose  name,  for  other  reasons,  will  never  be  forgotten  by 
Australians,  the  quarrelsome  and  pragmatic  Cayley,  and 
the  adventurous  Hack.  Amongst  them  there  was  one, 
however,  whose  failure,  read  by  the  light  of  modern 
knowledge,  was  probably  a  geographical  success.  This 
was  Francis  Barallier,  ensign  in  the  New  South  Wales 
corps,  who  was  encouraged  by  Governor  King  to  indulge 
his  ardent  longing  for  discovery.  By  birth  a  Frenchman, 
Barallier  had  received  his  ensigncy  by  commission  on 
the  13th  of  February,  1801,  having  done  duty  as  an 
ensign  since  July,  1800,  by  virtue  of  a  government 
general  order  issued  by  Governor  Hunter.  In  August, 
1801,  he  had  been  appointed  by  Governor  King  military 
engineer,  in  place  of  Captain  Abbott  resigned.  In 
February,  1802,  he  was  succeeded  by  Lieutenant  George 
Bellasis,  an  artillery  officer.  Besides  his  expeditions  to 
the  Blue  Mountains,  he  did  much  surveying  with 
Lieutenant  James  Grant  in  the  ''Lady  Nelson."  In 
1804,  he  went  to  England  and  saw  service  in  several 
regiments,  distinguishing  himself  greatly  in  military 
engineering,  amongst  his  works  being  the  erection  of  the 
Nelson  Column  in  Trafalgar  Square,  the  designer  of 
which  was  Mr.  Railton.    Barallier  died  in  1853. 

Peron,  tha  French  naturalist,  tells  us  that  when  in 
Sydney  in  October,  1802,  he  persuaded  Governor  King  to 
fit  out  a  party  to  attempt  the  passage  of  the  mountains, 
and  that  a  young  Frenchman,  aide-de-camp  to  the 
Governor,  was  intrusted  with  the  leadership.  He 
returned,  however,  without  having  been  able  to  penetrate 
further  than  his  English  predecessors. 

On  the  following  month,  however,  Barallier  set  out 
from  Parramatta,  on  his  famous  embassy  to  the  King  of 
the  Mountains.  This  fictitious  embassy  arose  from  the 
fact  that  Colonel  Paterson  having  refused  Barallier  the 
required  leave.  King  claimed  him  as  his  aide-de-camp, 


6  EXPLOBERS   OF    AUSTRALIA 

and  sent  him  on  this  embassy.  Barallier  started  with 
four  soldiers,  five  convicts,  and  a  waggon-load  of 
provisions  drawn  by  two  bullocks.  He  crossed  the  Nepean 
and  established  a  depot  at  a  place  known  as  Nattai, 
whence  the  waggon  was  sent  back  to  Sydney  for 
provisions,  Barallier,  with  the  remainder  of  his  men  and 
a  native,  pushing  out  westwards.  After  this  preliminary 
examination  he  returned  to  the  depot,  and  made  a  fresh 
departure  on  the  22nd  of  November,  and,  continuing 
mostly  directly  westwards,  he  reached  a  point  (according 
to  his  chart)  about  one  hundred  and  five  miles  due  west 
from  Lake  Illawarra.  If  this  position  is  even  approxi- 
mately correct,  he  must  have  been  at  the  very  source  of 
the  Lachlan  Eiver. 

I  give  a  few  extracts  from  his  diary,  which  was  not 
even  translated  until  the  Historical  Records  of  New 
South  Wales  were  collected  by  Mr.  F.  M.  Bladen.  They 
refer  to  the  crossing  of  the  range. 

''On  the  24th  of  November,  I  followed  the  range  of 
elevated  mountains,  where  I  saw  several  kangaroos.  This 
country  is  covered  with  meadows  and  small  hills,  where 
trees  grow  a  great  distance  apart.  .  .  I  resumed  my 
journey,  following  various  directions  to  avoid  obstacles, 
and  at  4  o'clock  I  arrived  on  the  top  of  a  hill  where  I 
discovered  that  the  direction  of  the  chain  of  mountains 
extended  itself  north-westerly  to  a  distance  which  I 
estimated  to  be  about  thirty  miles,  and  which  turned 
abruptly  at  right  angles.  It  formed  a  barrier  nearly 
north  and  south,  which  it  was  necessary  to  climb 
over.  .  .  At  7  o  'clock  I  arrived  on  the  summit  of 
another  hill,  from  where  I  noticed  three  openings:  the 
first  on  the  right  towards  N.  50.  W. ;  the  other  in  front 
of  me,  and  which  appeared  very  large,  was  west  from 
me ;  and  the  third  was  S.  35.  W. 

.  .  .  This  discovery  gave  me  great  hope,  and  the 
whole  of  the  party  appeared  quite  pleased,  thinking  that 
we  had  surmounted  all  difficulties,  and  that  we  were 
going  to  enter  a  plain,  the  apparent  immensity  of  which 
gave  every  promise  of  our  being  able  to  penetrate  far  into 
the  interior  of  the  country.     .     .     At  six  o'clock  I  found 


ORIGINS  7 

myself  at  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  from  the  western 
passage.  .  .  I  was  then  only  half-a-mile  from  the 
passage,  and  I  sent  on  two  men  in  order  to  discover  it, 
instructing  them  to  ascend  the  mountain  to  the  north  of 
this  passage.  .  .  I  waited  till  7  o'clock  for  my  two 
men,  who  related  to  me,  that  after  passing  the  range 
which  was  in  front  of  us  we  would  enter  an  immense 
plain,  that  from  the  height  where  they  were  on  the  moun- 
tain, they  had  caught  sight  of  only  a  few  hills  standing 
here  and  there  on  this  plain,  and  that  the  country  in  front 
of  them  had  the  appearance  of  a  meadow.  .  .  At 
daybreak  I  left  with  two  men  to  verify  myself  the  con- 
figuration of  the  ground,  and  to  ascertain  whether  the 
passage  of  the  Blue  Mountains  had  really  been  effected. 
I  climbed  the  chain  of  mountains  north  of  us.  When  I 
had  reached  the  middle  of  this  height  the  view  of  a  plain 
as  vast  as  the  eye  could  reach  confirmed  to  me  the  report 
of  the  previous  day.  .  .  I  discovered  towards  the  west 
and  at  a  distance  which  I  estimated  to  be  forty  miles, 
a  range  of  mountains  higher  than  those  we  had  passed. 
.  .  .  From  where  I  was,  I  could  not  detect  any  obstacle 
to  the  passage  right  to  the  foot  of  those  mountains.  .  . 
After  having  cut  a  cross  of  St.  Andrew  on  a  tree  to 
indicate  the  terminus  of  my  second  journey,  I  returned 
by  the  same  route  I  had  come." 

Barallier  concludes  his  diary  by  mentioning  another 
projected  expedition  over  the  mountains  from  Jervis 
Bay.  But  no  record  of  such  a  journey  has  ever  come 
to  light. 

(iv.) — The    Blue    Mountahsts:     Blaxland. 

Whether  Barallier  succeeded  or  not  in  reaching  the 
summit  of  the'  mountains,  the  verdict  accepted  at  that 
date  was  that  they  had  not  been  passed;  and  until  the 
year  1813,  they  were  regarded  as  impenetrable.  The 
narrative  of  the  crossing  of  these  mountains,  and  the 
<5hain  of  events  that  led  up  to  the  successful  attempt  is 
widely  known,  but  only  in  a  general  way.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  a  longer  and  more  detailed  account  is  given 
in  these  pages;  and  as  the  expedition  was  successful  in 


8  EXPLORERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 

opening  up  a  way  to  the  interior  of  the  Continent,  it  is 
fitting  that  its  leader  and  originator,  Gregory  Blaxland, 
should  be  classed  amongst  the  makers  of  Australasia. 

Blaxland  was  born  in  Kent,  in  1771,  and  arrived  in  the 
colony  in  1806,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  three  chil- 
dren. He  settled  down  to  the  congenial  occupation  of 
stockbreeding,  on  what  was  then  considered  to  be  a  large 
scale.  Finding  that  his  stock  did  not  thrive  so  well  in 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  sea  coast,  and 
wanting  more  land  for  pasturing  his  increasing  herds, 
he  made  anxious  enquiries  in  all  directions  as  to  the 
possibility  of  crossing  the  Blue  Mountains  inland.  No- 
body would  entertain  such  a  suggestion,  the  failures  had 
been  too  many:  every  one  to  whom  he  broached  the 
subject  declared  it  to  be  impossible,  prophesying 
that  the  extension  of  the  settlement  westward  would 
forever  be  obstructed  by  their  unscalable  heights. 
Blaxland,  however,  was  not  intimidated  by  these 
disheartening  predictions;  and,  in  1811,  he  started 
out  on  a  short  journey  of  investigation,  in  company  with 
three  Europeans  and  two  natives.  On  this  trip  he  found 
that  by  keeping  on  the  crowning  ridge  or  dividing  water- 
shed between  the  streams  running  into  the  Nepean  and 
those  that  fed  what  he  then  took  to  be  an  inland 
river,  he  got  along  fairly  well.  Some  time  afterwards 
he  accompanied  the  Governor  in  a  boat  excursion  up 
the  Warragamba,  a  tributary  of  the  Nepean,  and  though 
there  were  no  noteworthy  results,  it  convinced 
Blaxland  that,  could  he  follow  his  former  tactics  of 
adhering  to  the  leading  ridge  that  formed  the  divide 
between  the  tributaries  of  the  northern  bank  of  this  river 
and  the  affluents  of  the  Grose,  a  tributary  of  the 
Hawkesbury,  he  would  attain  his  object  and  reach  the 
highlands.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Blaxland  acted  with 
a  definite  and  well-thought-out  mode  of  procedure;  and 
that  the  ridge  he  selected  for  the  attempt  was  chosen 
with  judgment  based  on  considerable  knowledge  of  the 
locality,  which  he  gained  from  many  talks  with 
the  men  who  hunted  and  frequented  the  foothills  of  the 
range.    Finally,  when  he  had  arranged  his  plan  of  assault^ 


ORIGINS 


Statue  of  Gregory  Blaxlar.d.  Lands  Office,  Sydney. 


10  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

he  confided  his  intention  to  two  friends,  Lieutenant 
William  Lawson  and  William  Charles  Wentworth,  whose 
names  are  associated  with  his  in  the  conquest  of 
the  Mountains.  They  both  consented  to  accompany  him, 
and  agreed  to  follow  his  idea  of  stubbornly  following  one 
leading  spur.  Blaxland's  former  expedition  had 
convinced  him  that  the  local  knowledge  of  the  natives 
did  not  extend  far  enough  to  be  of  any  service,  and  they 
therefore  did  not  take  any  aborigines  with  them.  They 
took  pack-horses,  however,  which  proves  that  the  party 
started  with  a  well-founded  faith  in  their  ultimate 
success,  and  gave  no  heed  to  the  terrifying  descriptions 
-of  former  travellers. 

The  besetting  hindrance  to  their  progress  was  the  low 
scrub  of  brushwood  that  greatly  delayed  the  pack-horses. 
This  obstacle  was  overcome  only  by  patiently  advancing 
before  the  horses  every  afternoon,  and  cutting  a  bridle- 
track  for  the  succeeding  day's  stage.  Thus  literally, 
the  way  that  ultimately  led  into  the  interior  was 
won  foot  by  foot,  and  the  little  pioneering  band  even- 
tually descended  into  open  grazing  country  at  the  head  of 
what  is  now  known  as  the  Cox  River,  The  outward  and 
return  trip  occupied  less  than  one  month's  time; 
which  speaks  volumes  for  the  wise  choice  of  route;  but 
what  says  more,  is  the  fact  that  no  better  natural,  upward 
pathway  has  since  been  found. 

A  synopsis  of  Blaxland's  journal  is  given  here, 
<3ommencing  with  a  few  quoted  lines  of  preamble: — 

"On  Tuesday,  May  11th,  1813,  Mr.  Gregory  Blaxland, 
Mr.  William  Wentworth  and  Lieutenant  Lawson, 
attended  by  four  servants,  with  five  dogs  and  four  horses 
laden  with  provisions  and  other  necessaries,  left  Mr. 
Blaxland's  farm  at  South  Creek  for  the  purpose  of 
•endeavouring  to  affect  a  passage  over  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains, between  the  Western  River*  and  the  River  Grose. 
<  .  .  The  distance  travelled  on  this  and  subsequent 
days  was  computed  by  time,  the  rate  being  estimated  at 
about  two  miles  per  hour." 

*The  Warragamba. 


OEIGIlSrS 


11 


12  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

They  camped  at  the  foot  of  the  ridge  that  was  to 
witness  the  last  struggle  between  man  and  the  Mountains. 
On  the  first  day,  they  did  three  miles  and  a-half  in  a 
direction  varying  from  south-west  to  west-north-west, 
and  that  night  obtained  a  little  grass  for  the  horses,  and 
some  water  in  a  rocky  hole. 

The  heavy  dews  in  the  morning  retarded  any  attempts 
at  early  departures,  as  the  thick  wet  brush  rendered  it 
difficult  to  drive  the  horses,  so  that,  as  a  rule,  it  was  nine 
0  'clock  before  they  were  able  to  strike  camp.  The  ridge, 
still  favouring  the  direction  of  west  and  north-west,  on 
the  third  day  they  arrived  at  a  tract  of  land,  hilly,  but 
with  tolerable  grass  on  it.  Here  they  found  traces  of  a 
former  white  visitant  in  the  shape  of  a  marked-tree  line. 
Two  miles  from  this  point,  they  met  with  a  belt  of  brush- 
wood so  dense  that  for  the  first  time  they  were  forced  to 
alter  their  course;  but  the  subordinate  spurs  on  either 
side  ending  in  rocky  precipices,  they  had  to  return  and 
again  confront  the  scrub.  In  these  circumstances, 
they  made  up  their  minds  to  rely  upon  axe  and  tomahawk 
to  win  a  way,  and  so  next  morning  fell  to  work  cutting  a 
passage  for  the  horses.  The  ascent  was  also  now 
becoming  steep  and  rough,  and  on  this  day  some  of  the 
horses  fell  while  struggling  up  with  their  loads. 

The  first  day's  work  gained  for  them  five  miles, 
but  at  the  end  of  their  toil  they  had  to  retrace 
their  weary  way  back  to  the  last  night's  camp.  The  next 
day  they  cleared  the  track  for  only  two  miles  further 
ahead ;  so  much  time  being  wasted  in  walking  backwards 
and  forwards  to  the  work.  There  was  no  grass  amongst 
the  scrub  that  encompassed  them,  and  when,  on  Monday, 
they  determined  to  move  the  camp  equipage  forward,  they 
packed  the  horses  with  as  much  cut-grass  as  they  could 
put  on  them.  This  amounted  to,  according  to  Lawson's 
diary,  about  two  hundred  pounds  weight  for  each  horse, 
which,  in  addition  to  their  ordinary  loads,  must  have  been 
a  very  weighty  packload  for  uphill  work.  However, 
according  to  Blaxland,  ''they  stood  it  well."  They 
obtained  no  water  for  their  animals  that  night,  and  what 


OKTGINS  13 

they  wanted  for  their  own  requirements  had  to  be  pain- 
fully carried  up  a  cliff  about  six  hundred  feet  in  height. 
On  the  succeeding  day  they  suddenly  came  on  what  at 
first  appeared  to  be  an  impassable  barrier.  The 
ridge  which  they  had  so  pertinaciously  followed,  had, 
for  the  last  mile,  narrowed  and  dwindled  down  into  a 
sharp  razor-backed  spur,  flanked  with  rugged  and  abrupt 
gullies  on  either  slope.  Across  this  narrow  way  now 
stretched  a  perpendicularly-sided  mass  of  rock,  which 
seemed  effectually  to  bar  their  path.  The  removal  of  a 
few  large  boulders  however,  revealed  an  aperture  which, 
after  some  labour,  they  widened  sufficiently  to  allow  the 
pack-horses  to  squeeze  through. 

Once  through  they  began  to  ascend  what  they  estimated 
to  be  the  second  tier  of  the  Mountains.  Shortly  after 
they  left  camp  that  morning  they  came  on  a  pile  of 
stones,  or  cairn,  evidently  the  work  of  some  European, 
which  they  attributed  to  Bass.  They  were  much  elated  at 
the  thought  that  they  had  now  passed  beyond  the  limit 
of  any  previous  attempt.* 

They  could  now  look  round  with  triumph  on  the  pano- 
rama spread  beneath  their  view,  and  from  the  superior 
elevation  which  they  had  obtained,  they  took  the  bearings 
of  several  noticeable  landmarks  that  they  had  seen  before 
only  from  the  flat  country.  The  labour  of  cutting  a 
path  each  day  for  the  horses  for  the  next  day's  march 
had,  however,  still  to  be  continued;  but  the  crest  of  the 
ridge  was  again  wider,  though  the  gullies  on  each  side 
were  as  steep  as  before.  That  night,  in  camp,  the 
dogs  were  uneasy  throughout  the  night,  and  several 
times  gave  tongue  and  aroused  the  sleepers,  tired  with 
their  day's  work.  From  what  they  found  afterwards, 
they  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  blacks  had  been 
lurking  around  meditating  an  attack. 

They  then  passed  over  the  locality  known  in  the 
present  day  as  Blackheath,  and  soon  afterwards  had  their 
course  diverted  to  the  northward  by  what  Blaxland  terms 

*This  cairn  was  afterwards  named  "  Cayley's  Repulse  "  by  Governor  Macquarie :  but 
recent  research  goes  to  show  that  Cayley  followed  the  valley  of  the  Grose,  and  was  many 
miles  to  the  north  of  where  the  cairn  was  found.  According  to  Flinders,  Bass  was  not  on 
the  high  ridge  traversed  by  Blaxland  and  party. 


14  EXPLOEERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

''a  stone  wall  rising  perpendicularly  out  of  the  side  of 
the  mountain."  This  they  tried  to  descend,  but  without 
success,  and  so  kept  on  along  its  brow.  Undergrowth  still 
delayed  them,  and  they  still  had  to  spend  their  energies  in 
hewing  a  passage,  until  on  the  28th  of  the  month,  they 
camped  on  the  edge  of  the  steep  descent  that  had  lately 
marched  beside  them.  The  decline  was,  however,  not  quite 
so  abrupt,  and  the  face  no  longer  composed  of  solid  rock. 
They  paused  to  overlook  what  lay  before  them  and 
immediately  below,  and  found  the  view  more  gratifying 
than  they  had  anticipated.  What  they  had  at  first  taken 
for  sandy  barren  soil  proved  now,  on  nearer  inspection,  to 
be  forest-land  fairly  covered  with  a  good  growth  of  grass. 
The  horses  not  having  tasted  fresh  grass  for  some  days, 
they  cut  a  slanting  trench  across  the  sloping  face  of  the 
descent  in  order  to  afford  the  horses  some  sort  of  foot- 
hold, and  managed  to  get  them  down  to  a  little  feed  that 
evening. 

Next  morning  they  were  up  and  away  early,  and 
reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain  (Mount  York)  at  9  a.m., 
having  had  to  carry  the  pack-loads  down  most  of  the  way 
themselves,  as  it  was  too  steep  for  laden  horses  to 
preserve  their  balance  with  safety.  The  actual  base  of 
the  mountain  was  reached  through  a  gap  in  the  rocks, 
some  thirty  feet  in  width. 

They  now  found  themselves  on  what  was  then  termed 
"meadow  land,"  drained  by  the  upper  tributaries  of  the 
Warragamba;  and  this  country  presenting  no  serious 
obstacle  to  their  further  progress,  they  rightly  concluded 
that  they  had  now  surmounted  every  difficulty.  They 
followed  the  mountain  stream  up  for  some  distance  and, 
at  the  furthest  point  they  reached,  ascended  a  high  sugar- 
loaf  hill,  which  surveyor  Evans,  who  followed  in  their 
footsteps,  called  Mt.  Blaxland.  From  the  summit  they 
had  an  extensive  view  all  around,  and  Blaxland  described 
the  character  of  the  country  they  saw  in  the  following 
words: — ''Forest  and  grass  land,  sufficient  to  support  the 
stock  of  the  colony  for  the  next  thirty  years. ' ' 

Just  here,  let  us  compare  this  prophecy  with  a  similar 
one  made  by  Evans  a  few  months  afterwards,  on  the 


ORIGINS  15- 

pasture  lands  of  the  upper  Macquarie: — ''The  increase 
of  stock  for  some  hundred  years  cannot  overrun  it. ' ' 

The  provisions  of  the  explorers  were  now  nearly 
expended ;  their  apparel,  especially  their  footgear,  was  in 
rags  and  tatters;  on  the  other  hand,  the  work  that 
they  had  set  themselves  to  do  was  well  done.  They  had 
vanquished  the  Blue  Mountains.  Their  return  was 
uneventful.  After  breakfast  on  the  6th  of  June,  they 
crossed  the  Nepean,  their  provisions,  with  the  exception 
of  a  little  flour,  being  quite  consumed.  We  thus  see  how 
in  the  end  the  impenetrable  range,  that  had  so  long 
overawed  the  colonists  with  its  frown,  was  overcome, 
with  slight  difficulty,  when  local  experience  combined  with 
method,  was  arrayed  against  it.  To  liken  the  former 
expeditions  to  Blaxland's  is  to  compare  a  few  headlong 
assaults  with  a  well-conceived  and  skilfully  worked-out 
attack.  The  men  themselves  write  slightingly  of  the  feat. 
Blaxland  says:— ''the  passage  of  the  Blue  Mountains 
might  be  easily  effected. ' '  Lawson  's  opinion  of  the  moun- 
tain is: — "that  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  making  a 
good  road";  and  Wentworth's  verdict  is: — "that  the 
country  they  reached  is  easy  of  access."  Evans,  who  was 
hot  upon  their  trail,  gives  as  his  opinion: — "that  there 
are  no  hills  on  the  ridge  that  their  ascent  or  descent  is 
in  any  way  difficult. ' ' 

The  tidings  brought  back  by  the  party  of  successful 
pioneers  created  the  greatest  excitement  in  the  little 
colony.  No  longer  would  the  mountainous  barrier  stand 
defiantly  in  their  western  path.  For  over  thirty  years  it 
had  laughed  at  their  puny  efforts  to  cross  its  rugged 
crest,  but  its  time  had  come  at  last;  the  way  to  the 
unknown  west  was  now  open,  and  rejoicingly  the  settlers 
prepared  to  follow  on  the  explorers'  trail.  What  the 
mysterious  interior  might  hold,  they  could  not  imagine; 
but  the  gates  thereto  being  thrown  wide  at  last,  its  secrets 
would  be  soon  known  to  them. 

Blaxland  died  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1853,  having  lived 
long  enough  to  witness  the  wonderful  advance  in  settle- 
ment due  to  his  energies. 


Chapter  II. 
GEORGE  WILLIAM  EVANS. 


(i.) — First  Inland  Exploration. 

George  William  Evans,  Deputy-Surveyor  of  Lands, 
<3ame  forward  at  this  stage  as  the  most  prominent 
figure  in  Australian  exploration.  To  him  is  due  the 
lionour,  without  dispute  or  cavil,  of  being  the  first 
.discoverer  of  an  Australian  river  flowing  into  the  interior. 

For  some  reason  he  has 
never  received  adequate 
recognition  of  his  important 
explorations,  and  he  is  well- 
nigh  forgotten  by  the  people 
of  New  South  Wales,  the 
state  that  has  benefited  most 
^^  by  his  labours.  After  Oxley 's 

^^Ri^^^^^^  second  expedition,  his  name 

^^^Clv'~^'J^^^^k  appears       to      have      been 

^I^V       JJ^^^^BI^         overshadowed  by  his  official 
^^      ^^H^^^  superior's.      Yet    his    work 

was  invariably  successful, 
and  his  labour  in  the  field 
unremitting. 
Evans  was  born  in  England,  at  Warwick,  in  1778. 
IVhen  a  young  man  he  went  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
where  he  obtained  an  appointment  in  the  dockyard,  and 
while  there  he  married  his  first  wife,  Janet  Melvill,  In 
1802  he  was  appointed  Deputy  Surveyor-General,  and 
came  to  Australia  in  H.M.S.  ''Buffalo,"  in  order  to  take 
up  his  official  duties.  It  was  while  he  held  this  post  that 
he  carried  out  his  work  of  exploration. 

When  he  returned  from  these  explorations,  he  resumed 
Jiis  duties  as  Deputj^  Surveyor-General  only,  until  he  was 


George  W.  Evans,  Discoverer  of  the 
Macquarie  and  Lachlan  Rivers. 


36 


GEOKGE  WILLIAM  EVANS  17 

permanently  settled  in  Tasmania,  where  he  remained  in 
office  until  the  year  1825,  when  he  resigned  in  disgust  at 
his  treatment  by  his  superiors. 

Evans  lived  at  a  time  when  official  jealousies  were  rife, 
and  men  in  position  often  heedless  of  the  justice  or 
veracity  of  their  statements  when  influenced  by  party 
rancour.  The  machinations  of  a  cabal  led  by  Governor 
Arthur,  and  an  effort  made  to  deprive  him  of  his  well- 
deserved  pension,  necessitated  Evans's  departure  for 
England  to  defend  his  claims.  In  this  he  was  only 
partialh^  successful,  for  the  pension  which  it  was  under- 
stood was  for  life,  was  stopped  in  1832.  He  returned  to 
Tasmania,  and  passed  the  rest  of  his  days  at  his 
residence,  Warwick  Lodge,  at  the  head  of  Newtown  Bay. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-four,  and  is  buried  in 
the  old  cemetery,  Hobart;  his  second  wife,  Lucy  Parris, 
rests  in  the  same  grave. 

Evans  was  a  clever  draughtsman,  and  some  of  his 
sketches  of  the  country  explored  are  reproduced  in 
Oxley's  journal.  He  also  published  a  book  entitled 
*' History  and  Description  of  the  Present  State  of  Van 
Diemen's  Land." 

It  was  on  Saturday,  the  20th  of  November,  1813,  that 
Evans,  in  charge  of  five  men,  one  of  whom  had  been  with 
Blaxland's  party,  started  from  the  point  of  forest  land 
on  the  Nepean  known  as  Emu  Island.  He  lost  no  time  in 
following  the  tracks  of  the  late  expedition,  leaving  the 
measurement  until  his  return.  On  Friday,  the  26tli,  he 
reached  Blaxland's  furthest  point,  and  thenceforward 
passed  over  new  ground.  It  is  somewhat  amusing  to  note 
that  his  opinions  of  the  country  when  on  his  outward  way 
and  on  his  homeward,  are  widely  divergent.  He  candidly 
and  ingenuously  writes,  after  he  has  been  on  the  table- 
land : — 

"What  appeared  to  me  fine  country  on  my  first  coming 
to  it,  looks  miserable  now  after  returning  from  so 
superior  and  good  a  country." 

On  Tuesday,  the  30th  of  November,  he  gained  a  ridge 
that  he  had  had  in  view  for  some  time,  though  he  had  been 
"bothered"  by  the  hills  in  his  efforts  to  reach  it.    From 

c 


18  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

this  ridge  he  caught  a  tantalising  view,  a  glimpse  of  the 
outskirts  of  the  vast  interior. 

There  before  him,  the  first  white  man  to  look  upon  the 
scene,  lay  the  open  way  to  two  thousand  miles  of  fair 
pasture-lands  and  brooding  desert-wastes — of  limitless 
plains  and  boundless  rolling  downs — of  open  grassy 
forests  and  barren  scrubs — of  solitary  mountain  peaks 
and  sluggish  rivers ;  and,  though  then  hidden  from  even 
the  most  brilliant  imagination,  the  wondrous  potential- 
ities latent  in  that  silent  and  untrodden  region.  If  a 
vision  of  the  future  had  been  vouchsafed  Deputy- 
Surveyor  Evans  as  he  stood  and  gazed — a  vision  of  all 
that  would  cover  the  spacious  lands  before  and  beyond 
him  before  one  hundred  years  had  passed  away — the 
entry  he  made  in  his  diary  would  surely  have  reflected 
in  its  style  his  flight  of  imagination.  Instead,  we  have 
the  prosaic  statement : — 

*  *  I  came  to  a  very  high  mount,  when  I  was  much  pleased 
with  the  sight  westward.  I  think  I  can  see  40  miles  which 
had  the  look  of  open  country. ' ' 

In  a  pleasant  valley,  he  came  upon  a  large  ''riverlett,'^ 
and  on  its  banks  they  camped.  There  they  shot  ducks 
and  caught  ''trout" — as  he  called  the  Murray  Cod — the 
first  of  the  species  to  tickle  the  palate  of  a  white  man; 
fine  specimens,  too,  weighing  five  and  six  pounds.  As 
he  proceeded  further  and  further,  he  became 
enchanted  with  the  scenery: — ''The  handsomest  I  have 
yet  seen,  with  gently-rising  hills  and  dales  well-watered '  ^ 
— and  he  finally  notes  that  language  failed  him  to 
describe  it  adequately. 

Evans  named  the  river  that  led  him  through  this 
veritable  land  of  promise  the  Fish  Eiver,  and  a  river 
which  joined  its  waters  with  it  from  the  south  he  called 
the  Campbell  Eiver.  The  united  stream  he  christened,  as 
in  duty  bound,  the  Macquarie.  Unimpeded  in  his  course, 
he  followed  the  Macquarie  until  he  was  98i/^ 
measured  miles — for  they  had  been  chaining  since  passing 
the  limit  of  the  first  explorers — from  the  termination  of 
Blaxland's  journey.  He  then  decided  to  return;  for  he 
had  gained  all  the  information  he  had  been  sent  to  seek; 


GEORGE    WILLIAM    EVANS  19 

and  though  game  was  plentiful,  his  party  were  without 
shoes,  and  the  horses  were  suffering  from  sore  backs. 

Thus  was  concluded  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner 
the  first  journey  of  exploration  into  the  interior,  Evans 
constantly  saw,  during  his  progress,  unmistakeable 
traces  of  the  natives;  but  he  interviewed  only  a 
small  party  of  five.  This  representative  band  of  the 
inland  aborigines  of  Australia,  was  composed  of  two 
lubras  and  some  picaninnies,  both  the  women  being  blind 
of  the  right  eye. 

The  party  reached  the  Nepean  on  their  return  journey 
on  the  8th  of  January,  1814.  Mr.  Cox  was  immediately 
intrusted  with  the  superintendence  of  the  work  of  making 
a  public  road  over  the  range,  following  closely  the  same 
route  as  that  taken  by  Blaxland's  party.  This  work  was 
completed  in  the  year  1815,  and  on  the  26th  of  April  of 
the  same  year.  Governor  Macquarie  and  a  large  staff 
set  out  to  visit  the  newly-found  territory.  The  Governor 
arrived  at  the  recently-formed  town  of  Bathurst  on  the 
4th  of  May;  but  before  his  arrival  Evans  had  been  again 
ordered  out  on  another  exploring  expedition  to  the  south- 
west. 

(ii.) — The  LACHLAisr   River. 

Evans  started  from  Bathurst  on  the  13th  of  May,  1815. 
He  commenced  his  journey  along  the  fine  flat  country  then 
known  as  Queen  Charlotte  Vale,  maintaining  a  southerly 
course  for  a  day  or  two ;  but  finding  himself  still  amongst 
the  tributaries  of  the  Campbell  River,  he  retraced  his 
steps  some  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  in  order  to  avoid  a 
row  of  rocky  hills.  He  then  struck  out  more  to  the  west- 
ward. On  Thursday,  the  23rd,  he  came  to  a  chain  of 
ponds  bearing  nearly  north-west,  and  from  a  commanding 
ridge  saw  before  him  a  prospect  as  gratifying  as  some 
of  the  scenes  viewed  on  his  former  trip. 

' 'I  never  saw  a  more  pleasing-looking  country.  I  cannot 
express  the  pleasure  I  feel  in  going  forward.  The  hills 
we  have  passed  are  excellent  land,  well-wooded.  To  the 
south,  distant  objects  are  obscured  by  high  hills,  but  in 
the  south-west  are  very  distant  mountains,  under  them 


20  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

appears  a  mist  as  tlio '  rising  from  a  river.  It  was  the  like 
look  round  to  the  west,  but  beyond  the  loom  of  high  hills 
are  very  faintly  distinguished." 

This  was  the  first  view  Evans  obtained  of  the  Lachlan 
valley.  The  ponds  he  had  met  with  gradually  grew  into 
a  connected  stream:  other  ponds  united  with  them  from 
the  north-east,  and  he  writes : — ^ '  they  have  at  the  end  of 
the  day  almost  the  appearance  of  a  river."  On  the  24th 
he  came  to  a  creek  which  joined  ''the  bed  of  a  river  rising 
in  a  N.  30.  E,  direction,  now  dry  except  in  hollow  places. 
It  is  fully  70  feet  wide,  having  a  pebbly  bottom;  on  each 
side  grow  large  swamp-oaks." 

On  Thursday,  the  1st  of  June,  this  river  holding  a 
definite  course  to  the  westward,  and  he  being  clear  of  the 
points  of  the  hills,  which  hitherto  had  hindered  him 
greatly,  he  determined  to  return,  as  he  was  running  short 
of  provisions. 

"To-morrow  I  am  necessitated  to  return,  and  shall 
ascend  a  very  high  hill  I  left  on  my  right  hand  this 
morning.  I  leave  no  mark  here  more  than  cutting  trees. 
On  one  situated  in  an  angle  of  the  river  on  a  wet  creek 
bearing  north  I  have  deeply  carved  'EVANS,  1st  JUNE, 
1815.'"* 

On  the  next  morning  Evans  ascended  the  hill  he  alluded 
to,  and  from  the  summit  enjoyed  a  most  extended  view 
of  the  surrounding  country,  which  he  compared  to  a  view 
of  the  ocean.  On  his  way  back  to  Bathurst,  he  bestowed 
upon  the  new  river  the  name  it  now  bears.  A  short 
passage  in  his  diary,  written  during  his  return,  is  of 
peculiar  interest,  as  it  contains  the  first  mention  of  snow 
seen  in  Australia  by  white  men.  On  Thursday,  the  8th 
of  June,  he  writes : — 

"The  mountains  I  observed  bearing  north-west  are 
covered  with  snow;  I  thought  on  my  way  out  that  their 
tops  looked  rather  white.    To-day  it  was  distinguished  as 

*Thi8  tree,  a  tall  and  sturdy  gum,  flourished  for  over  ninety  years,  and  when  in  its 
prime  was,  unfortunately,  owing  to  the  spread  of  agricultural  settlement,  inadvertently 
ring-barked  and  killed.  It  must  have  been  a  fine  tree  when  marked  by  the  explorer,  and 
though  dead  it  is  still  standing  at  the  date  of  the  publication  of  this  book.  In  1906,  the 
shield  of  wood  bearing  the  inscription,  was  cut  off  by  Mr.  James  Marsh,  of  Marshdale, 
and  is  now  preserved  in  the  Australian  Museum  in  Sydney,  N.S.W.  It  is  the  oldest 
marked-tree  in  the  whole  of  Australasia. 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  EVANS  21 

plain  as  ever  I  saw  snow  on  the  mountains  in  Van 
Diemen's  Land.  I  never  felt  colder  weather  than  it  has 
been  some  days  past.  We  have  broken  ice  full  two  inches 
thick." 

On  the  12th  of  June  the  party  returned  to  Bathurst, 
and  Evans  had  by  that  time  accomplished  two  of  the 
most  momentous  journeys  ever  made  in  Australia.  It  was 
not  his  actual  discoveries  alone  that  brought  him  fame, 
but  the  vast  field  for  settlement  these  discoveries  opened 
up.  The  independent  explorations  of  Surveyor  Evans 
ceased  after  his  discovery  of  the  Lachlan ;  thenceforward 
he  served  Australia  as  second  to  Lieutenant  Oxley. 

(iii.) — The    Unknown    West. 

The  settlers  of  that  day  took  every  advantage  of  the 
new  outlets  for  their  energies,  thrown  open  to  them  by  the 
recent  successful  explorations.  Cattle  and  sheep  were 
rapidly  driven  forward  on  to  the  highlands,  and, 
favoured  by  a  beautiful  site,  the  town  of  Bathurst  soon 
assumed  an  orderly  appearance.  Private  enterprise  had 
also  been  at  work  elsewhere.  The  pioneer  settlers  were 
making  their  way  south ;  the  tide  of  settlement  flowed  over 
the  intermediate  lands  to  the  Shoalhaven  Eiver;  and  in 
the  north  they  had  commenced  the  irresistible  march  of 
civilization  up  the  Hunter  River. 

It  was  in  the  Shoalhaven  district  that  young  Hamilton 
Hume,  the  first  Australian-born  explorer  to  make  his 
mark  in  the  field,  gained  his  bushcraft. 

Governor  Macquarie,  during  his  term  of  office, 
did  his  best  to  foster  exploration;  and  it  was  fortunate 
that  the  first  advance  into  the  interior  occurred  when 
there  was  a  Governor  in  Australia  who  did  not  look  coldly 
upon  geographical  enterprise. 

The  men  who  entered  first  upon  the  task  of  solving  the 
geographical  problems  of  the  interior  of  the  Australian 
continent  were  doomed  to  meet  with  much  bitter  disap- 
pointment. The  varying  nature  of  the  seasons  caused  the 
different  travellers  to  form  contrary  and  perplexing 
ideas,  often  with  regard  to  the  same  tract  of  country. 
What  appeared  to  one  man  a  land  of  pleasant  gurgling 


22  EXPLOREBS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

brooks,  flowing  through  rich  pastures,  appeared  to 
another  as  a  pitiless  desert,  unfit  for  human  foot  to 
venture  upon.  Oxiey,  who  traversed  what  is  now  the 
cream  of  the  agricultural  portion  of  the  state  of  New 
South  Wales,  speaks  of  the  main  part  of  it  in  terms 
of  the  bitterest  condemnation.  His  error  was  of  course 
rather  a  mistake  in  judgment  than  the  result  of  inaccurate 
observation. 

Some  of  the  colonists  nursed  far  fonder  hopes, 
and  the  general  opinion  seemed  to  be  that  these 
western-flowing  rivers  would  gather  in  tributaries,  and 
having  swollen  to  a  size  worthy  of  so  great  a  continent, 
seek  the  sea  on  the  west  coast.  W.  C.  Wentworth,  who 
certainly  was  capable  of  forming  an  opinion  deserving 
consideration,  wrote  thus  of  the  then  untraced  Macquarie 
River : — 

"If  the  sanguine  hopes  to  which  the  discovery  of  this 
river  (the  Macquarie)  has  given  birth  should  be  realised, 
and  it  should  be  found  to  empty  itself  into  the  ocean  in 
the  north-west  coast,  which  is  the  only  part  of  this  vast 
island  that  has  not  been  accurately  surveyed,  in  what 
mighty  conceptions  of  the  future  power  and  greatness 
of  this  colony  may  we  not  reasonably  indulge?  The 
nearest  point  at  which  Mr.  Oxley  left  off  to  any  part  of 
the  western  coast  is  very  little  short  of  two  thousand 
miles.  If  this  river  therefore  be  already  of  the  size  of  the 
Hawkesbury  at  Windsor,  which  is  not  less  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  breadth,  and  of  sufficient 
depth  to  float  a  seventy-four  gun  ship,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  imagine  what  must  be  its  magnitude  at  its  confluence 
with  the  ocean,  before  it  can  arrive  at  which  it  has  to 
traverse  a  country  nearly  two  thousand  miles  in  extent. 
If  it  possesses  the  usual  sinuosities  of  rivers,  its  course 
to  the  sea  cannot  be  less  than  from  five  to  six  thousand 
miles,  and  the  endless  accession  of  tributary  streams 
which  it  must  receive  in  its  passage  through  so  great  an 
extent  of  country  will,  without  doubt,  enable  it  to  vie  in 
point  of  magnitude  with  any  river  in  the  world." 

It  was  to  realise  such  ambitious  hopes  as  these  that 
Oxley  went  forth  to  penetrate  into  the  interior. 


Chapter  III. 
JOHN  OXLEY. 


(i.) — Geneeal   Biogeaphy, 

Oxley  was  born  in  England  in  the  early  part  of  1781. 
In  his  youth  he  entered  the  navy,  saw  active  service 
in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant.  He  came  to  Australia  in  January,  1812,  and 
was  appointed  Surveyor-General. 

Throughout  his  career  in  Australia,  Oxley  would  seem 
to  have  won  the  friendship  and  respect  of  all  he  came  in 
contact  with.  Captain  Charles  Sturt,  in  the  journal  of 
his  first  expedition,  wrote  of  him  as  follows : — 

''A  reflection  arose  to  my  mind,  on  examining  these 
decaying  vestiges  of  a  former  expedition,  whether 
T  should  be  more  fortunate  than  the  leader  of  it, 
and  how  far  I  should  be  able  to  penetrate  beyond 
ihe  point  which  had  conquered  his  perseverance. 
Only  a  week  before  I  left  Sydney  I  had  followed  Mr. 
Oxley  to  the  tomb.  A  man  of  great  quickness  and  of 
uncommon  ability.  The  task  of  following  up  his 
discoveries  was  no  less  enviable  than  arduous." 

These  thoughts  were  suggested  to  Sturt  when  standing 
at  one  of  Oxley 's  old  camps,  and  coming  from  such  a  man 
<3arry  great  weight. 

The  following  obituary  notice  of  Oxley  appeared  in 
the  ''Government  Gazette"  of  May  27th,  1828. 

''It  would  be  impossible  for  his  Excellency,  consistently 
with  his  feelings,  to  announce  the  decease  of  the  late 
Surveyor-General  without  endeavouring  to  express  the 
sense  he  entertains  of  Mr.  Oxley 's  services,  though  he 
<3annot  do  justice  to  them. 

23 


24  EXPLOEERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

' '  From  the  nature  of  this  colony,  the  office  of  Surveyor- 
General  is  amongst  the  most  important  under  Govern- 
ment; and  to  perform  its  duties  in  a  manner  Mr.  Oxley 
has  done  for  a  long  series  of  years  is  as  honourable  to 
his  zeal  and  abilities  as  it  is  painful  for  the  Government 
to  be  deprived  of  them. 

'*Mr.  Oxley  entered  the  public  service  at  an  early 
period  of  his  life,  and  has  filled  the  important  situation 
of  Survey  or- General  for  the  last  sixteen  years. 

''His  exertions  in  the  public  service  have  been 
unwearied,  as  has  been  proved  by  his  several  expeditions 
to  explore  the  interior.  The  public  have  reaped  the  benefit^ 
while  it  is  to  be  apprehended  that  the  event,  which  they 
cannot  fail  to  lament,  has  been  accelerated  by  the  priva- 
tions and  fatigues  of  these  arduous  services.  Mr.  Oxley 
eminently  assisted  in  unfolding  the  advantages  of  this 
highly-favoured  colony  from  an  early  stage  of  its 
existence,  and  his  name  will  ever  be  associated  with  the 
dawn  of  its  advancement.  It  is  always  gratifying  to  the 
Government  to  record  its  approbation  of  the  services  of 
meritorious  public  officers,  and  in  assigning  to  Mr.  Oxley 's 
name  a  distinguished  place  in  that  class  to  which  his  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  the  colony  has  so  justly  entitled 
him,  the  Government  would  do  honour  to  his  memory  in 
the  same  degree  as  it  feels  the  loss  it  has  sustained  in  his 
death." 

Oxley  died  at  Kirkham,  his  private  residence  near 
Sydney,  on  the  25th  of  May,  1828.  Though  his  judgment 
was  at  times  at  fault,  as  will  be  seen  later  on,  he  was 
essentially  a  successful  explorer ;  for,  although  he  did  not 
in  every  case  achieve  the  object  aimed  at,  he  always 
brought  back  his  men  without  loss,  and  he  opened  up  vast 
tracts  of  new  country.  John  Oxley 's  personality  is  not 
very  familiar,  but  the  portrait  presented  to  the  reader  in 
this  volume  was  taken  in  the  prime  of  his  life,  before  he- 
suffered  the  scars  of  doubtful  battle  with  the  Australian 
wilderness.  It  has  never  been  published  before,  and  is 
taken  from  the  original  miniature  that  he  presented  to- 
Mrs.  King,  widow  of  Governor  King,  in  1810. 


JOHN    OXLEY 


25 


John  Oxley.    From  a  i)ortrait  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Oxley,  of  Bowral.     Tlie  portrait  was- 
presented  to  Mrs.  King,  widow  of  Governor  King,  in  1810,  and  signed  by  him. 


26  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

(ii.) — His    First    Expedition. 

On  this,  Oxley's  first  journey  of  exploration,  Evans 
accompanied  him  as  second  in  command,  and  another  man 
who  has  left  an  immortal  name  was  also  with  him — 
Allan  Cunningham,  officially  known  as  King's 
Botanist.  Charles  Frazer,  well-known  in  connection  with 
the  early  history  both  of  New  South  Wales  and  of 
"Western  Australia,  accompanied  Oxley  under  the  title 
•of  Colonial  Botanist.  There  were  nine  other  men  in  the 
party — boatmen,  horse-tenders,  and  so  forth;  they  had 
with  them  two  boats  and  fourteen  pack  and  riding-horses. 
A  depot  was  first  formed  at  the  junction  of  the  small 
creek  whence  Evans  had  turned  back,  and  where  he  had 
marked  a  tree  with  his  initials  in  1815.  There  the  boats 
were  launched  and  preparations  completed  for  the  final 
start.  On  the  6tn  of  April,  1817,  Oxley  left  Sydney  and 
joined  his  party  at  the  depot  on  the  1st  of  May.  Thence 
lie  soon  commenced  this  most  momentous  journey  in 
Australia's  early  annals,  eager  to  penetrate  into  the 
unknown,  and  inspired  with  hopes  of  solving  the  mystery 
of  the  outlet  of  this  inland  river. 

Disappointment  marks  the  tone  of  Oxley's  journal  from 
the  start ;  the  exceeding  flatness  of  the  country,  the  many 
ana-branches  of  the  river,  the  low  altitude  of  its  banks, 
and  the  absence  of  any  large  tributary  streams,  above  all, 
the  dismal  impression  made  by  the  monotony  of  the 
surroundings,  seem  to  have  depressed  Oxley's  spirit. 
He  appears  to  have  formed  the  idea  that  the  interior 
tract  he  was  approaching  was  nothing  more  than  a  dead 
and  stagnant  marsh — a  huge  dreary  swamp,  within  whose 
bounds  the  inland  rivers  lost  their  individuality  and 
merged  into  a  lifeless  morass.  A  more  melancholy 
picture  could  not  be  imagined,  and  with  such  an  awesome 
thought  constantly  haunting  his  mind  there  is  no  wonder 
that  he  became  morbid,  and  that  the  dominant  tone  of 
his  journal,  whilst  on  the  Lachlan,  is  so  hopelessly 
pessimistic. 

"These  flats,"  he  says,  "are  certainly  not  adapted  for 
cattle ;  the  grass  is  too  swampy,  and  the  bushes,  swamps, 


JOHN    OXLEY  27 

and  lagoons  are  too  thickly  intermingled  with  the  better 
portion  to  render  it  a  safe  or  desirable  grazing  country. 
The  timber  is  universally  bad  and  small ;  a  few  misshapen 
gum  trees  on  the  immediate  banks  of  the  river  may  be 
considered  an  exception." 

The  channel  of  the  river  now  divided,  and  Oxley 
followed  the  channel  on  the  northern  side,  which  they 
were  skirting.  But  before  they  had  progressed  a  mile 
beyond  the  point  of  divergence,  they  reached  the  spot 
where  the  river  overflowed  its  banks  and  its  course  was 
lost  in  the  marshes.  It  was  on  the  12th  of  May  that  they 
received  this  check  to  their  as  yet  uninterrupted  progress. 

"Observing  an  eminence  about  half-a-mile  from  the 
south  side,  we  crossed  over  the  horses  and  baggage  at 
a  place  where  the  water  was  level  with  the  banks,  and 
which,  when  within  its  usual  channel,  did  not  exceed 
thirty  or  forty  feet  in  width. 

''We  ascended  the  hill,  and  had  the  mortification  to 
perceive  that  the  termination  of  our  research  was  reached, 
at  least  down  this  branch  of  the  river.  The  whole 
country  from  the  west,  north-west,  round  to  the  north, 
was  either  a  complete  marsh  or  lay  under  water." 

The  country  to  the  south  and  south-west  appearing 
more  elevated,  Oxley  determined  to  return  to  the  place 
where  the  branches  separated,  and  to  try  his  fortune  on 
the  other  one.  This,  after'  a  while,  proved  as 
unsatisfactory  as  the  one  they  had  abandoned.  Bitterly 
disappointed,  Oxley  altered  his  plans  entirely.  He 
resolved  to  cease  trying  to  follow  the  river  through  this 
water-logged  country,  and  determined  to  strike  out  on 
a  direct  course  to  the  south  coast  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Cape  Northumberland.  In  this  way  he  hoped  to  cross 
any  river  that  these  dreary  marshes  and  swamps  gave 
birth  to,  and  that  found  an  outlet  into  the  Southern 
Ocean,  between  Spencer's  Gulf  and  Cape  Otway. 

This  resolve  was  at  once  carried  out.  The  boats  were 
hauled  up  and  secured  together;  all  unnecessary  articles 
were  abandoned  to  suit  the  reduced  means  of  transit; 
and  at  nine  o  'clock  on  May  18th  they  said  farewell  to  this 
weaiT  river  and  started  to  encounter  fresh  troubles  under 


28  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

another  guise.  Instead  of  travelling  in  a  superfluity  of 
water  they  now  found  themselves  straitened  by  drought, 
and  the  work  began  to  tell  upon  the  horses.  Scrub,  too, 
that  besetting  hindrance  of  so  many  Australian  explorers, 
began  to  impede  their  onward  path.  Eucalyptus  brush 
overrun  with  creepers  and  prickly  acacia  bushes  united 
to  bar  the  way,  and  when,  after  much  toil  and  suffering, 
they  at  last  reached  the  point  of  a  range,  which  Oxley 
named  the  Peel  Range,  the  leader  had  reluctantly  again 
to  change  his  mind  and  to  abandon  the  idea  of  making 
south-west  to  the  coast.  Sick  at  heart  at  this  sequence 
of  disastrous  happenings,  he  confided  his  feeling  of 
sorrow  to  his  journal. 

''June  4th.  Weather  as  usual  fine  and  clear,  which  is 
the  greatest  comfort  we  enjoy  in  these  deserts  abandoned 
by  every  living  creature  capable  of  getting  out  of  them. 
I  was  obliged  to  send  back  to  our  former  halting-place 
for  water,  a  distance  of  near  eight  miles ;  this  is  terrible 
for  the  horses,  who  are  in  general  extremely  reduced; 
but  two  in  particular  cannot,  I  think,  endure  this  miser- 
able existence  much  longer. 

''At  five  o'clock  two  of  the  men  whom  I  had  sent  to 
explore  the  country  to  the  south-west  and  see  if  any 
water  could  be  found,  returned  after  proceeding  six  or 
seven  miles;  they  found  it  impossible  to  go  any  farther 
in  that  direction,  or  even  south,  from  the  thick  bushes 
that  intersected  their  course  on  every  side ;  and  no  water 
(nor  in  fact  the  least  sign  of  any)  was  discovered  either 
by  them  or  by  those  who  were  sent  in  search  of  it  nearer 
our  little  camp. 

"June  5th.  From  everything  I  can  see  of  the  country 
to  the  south-west,  it  appears,  upon  the  most  mature 
deliberation,  highly  imprudent  to  persevere  longer  in  that 
direction,  as  the  consequences  to  the  horses  of  want  of 
grass  and  water  might  be  most  serious;  and  we  are  well 
assured  that  within  forty  miles  on  that  point  the  country 
is  the  same  as  before  passed  over.  .  .  Our  horses  are 
unable  to  go  more  than  eight  or  ten  miles  a  day,  but  even 
they  must  be  assured  of  finding  food  of  which  in  these 
deserts  the  chances  are  against  the  existence." 


JOHN   OXLEY  29 

On  the  following  day,  June  Gtli,  Oxley,  having  changed 
his  course  to  west  and  north-west,  made  another  effort  to 
escape  from  the  surroundings  that  so  disheartened  him. 
On  the  4th  of  June,  before  leaving,  Allan  Cunningham 
planted  some  acorns  and  peach  and  apricot  stones  in 
honour  of  the  King's  birthday.  Upon  this  episode  Oxley 
remarks,  that  they  would  serve  to  commemorate  the  day 
and  situation, ' '  should  these  desolate  plains  be  ever  again 
visited  by  civilised  man,  of  which,  however,  I  think  there 
is  very  little  probability."  All  this  only  shows  how  the 
lack  of  experience  of  the  paradoxical  nature  of  the 
Australian  interior  induced  Oxley  to  form  an 
absurdly  erroneous  idea  of  the  country  in  its  virgin  state. 
His  observations  read  almost  like  a  present-day  descrip- 
tion of  the  sandy  spinifex  desert  of  the  north-west  of 
Western  Australia,  and,  in  fact,  the  very  same  remark 
was  made  by  Warburton  in  1873,  when  traversing  that 
awful  desert.  He  confessed  his  uncertainty  about  the 
longitude  of  Joanna  Spring,  and  says  that  it  did  not 
matter,  as  no  white  man  would  ever  come  into  the  desert 
again  in  search  of  the  oasis. 

But  Oxley 's  troubles  were  increasing,  and  on  June  8th 
he  wrote:  "The  whole  country  in  these  directions, 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  was  one  continued  thicket  of 
eucalyptus  scrub.  It  was  impossible  to  proceed  that  way, 
and  our  situation  was  too  critical  to  admit  of  delay: 
it  was  therefore  resolved  to  return  back  to  our  last  station 
on  the  6th,  under  Peel's  Eange,  if  for  no  other  purpose 
than  that  of  giving  the  horses  water." 

Forced  to  return  once  more,  Oxley  became  thoroughly 
convinced  of  the  inhabitability  of  the  country,  and  it  is 
no  wonder  that  his  condemnation  was  so  sweeping  and 
hasty.    He  wrote  on  June  the  21st: — 

"The  farther  we  proceed  westerly,  the  more  convinced 
I  am  that  for  all  the  practical  purposes  of  civilised  man 
the  interior  of  this  country  westward  of  a  certain 
meridian  is  uninhabitable,  deprived  as  it  is  of  wood, 
water  and  grass." 

Unfortunately  for  his  fame,  he  then  relinquished  all 
thoughts  and  hopes  of  a  southward  course;  for  had  he 


30  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

pushed  on,  posterity  would  have  hailed  his  memory  as  the 
discoverer  of  the  Murrumbidgee.  But  Fate  decided 
otherwise,  and  dejected  and  baffled,  he  turned  to  follow 
the  Peel  Range  north,  making  for  the  part  he  had  left, 
where  at  least  he  was  sure  of  a  supply  of  water.  The 
expedition  suddenly  came  upon  the  river  again  on  the 
23rd  of  June,  and  hoping  to  find  that  it  had  modified 
its  nature,  they  commenced  to  run  it  down  again.  The 
7th  of  July  they  were  forced  to  halt  once  more,  when 
Oxley  gave  up  all  idea  of  tracing  the  Lachlan.  He  began 
his  return  journey,  making  this  last  desponding  entry : — 

*'It  is  with  infinite  regret  and  pain  that  I  was  forced 
to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  interior  of  this  vast 
country  is  a  marsh  and  uninhabitable.  .  .  There  is  a 
dreary  uniformity  in  the  barren  desolateness  of  this 
country  which  wearies  one  more  than  I  am  able  to  express. 
One  tree,  one  soil,  one  water,  and  one  description  of  bird, 
fish,  or  animal  prevails  alike  for  ten  miles  and  for  one 
hundred.  A  variety  of  wretchedness  is  at  all  times 
preferable  to  one  unvarying  cause  of  pain  or  distress.'* 

On  the  4th  of  August,  the  leader,  knowing  the  repellant 
nature  of  the  river  and  its  swamps  and  morasses  that 
lay  ahead  of  their  returning  footsteps,  determined  to  quit 
the  Lachlan  altogether,  and  steering  a  northern  course, 
to  abandon  the  low  country,  reach  the  Macquarie 
River  and  follow  it  up  to  the  settlement  at  Bathurst. 

The  boats  having  been  long  since  abandoned,  it  was 
necessary  to  build  a  raft  of  pine-logs  wherewith  to  trans- 
port the  baggage  over  the  stream.  They  crossed  in  safety, 
and  we  can  imagine  that  it  was  with  no  feelings  of  regret 
that  they  finally  lost  sight  of  the  stream  that  had  so 
persistently  baffled  them  in  all  their  attempts  to  traverse 
its  banks. 

For  some  days  they  had  to  struggle  against  the  many 
obstacles  of  a  new  and  untrodden  land,  but  they  at  last 
emerged  on  to  the  Macquarie  country,  which  made  a 
pleasant  and  welcome  contrast  with  the  detested  Lachlan. 

It  may  be  thought  that  too  much  stress  has  been  laid 
upon  Oxley 's  opinion  of  the  Lachlan,  but  it  was 
this  pessimistic  report  that  dominated  the  public  mind 


JOHN   OXLEY 


31 


32  EXPLOREBS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

for  many  years  in  its  speculations  as  to  the  character 
of  the  interior. 

To  Oxley  himself,  the  first  glimpse  of  the  Macquarie 
came  like  a  ray  of  sunshine  on  his  harassed  feelings.  Was 
he  not  to  reap  some  reward  for  his  heroic  efforts  along 
the  Lachlan,  to  enjoy  the  realisation  of  some  of  his 
ambition  as  geographical  discoverer?  The  Macquarie 
seemed  a  favourable  subject  for  the  exercise  of  his 
talents.  Would  it  not  lead  him  westward  to  the  conquest 
of  that  mysterious  inland  country  which  had  hitherto 
guarded  its  secrets  with  an  invincible  obstinacy?  Poor 
Oxley,  who  can  help  rejoicing  with  him  in  his  short-lived 
joy?  Without  knowing  it,  he  was  the  first  of  a  long  line 
of  brave  spirits  who  were  doomed  to  lose  health  and  life 
in  carving  their  way  into  the  heart  of  Australia. 

As  they  returned  homeward  up  the  bank  of  the 
Macquarie,  the  river  seemed  to  him  to  glitter  with  the 
bright  promise  of  a  crown  of  success.  For  almost  the  first 
time  the  entry  in  his  journal  has  a  cheery  ring  of  hope : — 

''Nothing  can  afford  a  stronger  contrast  than  the  two 
rivers — Lachlan  and  Macquarie — different  in  their  habits, 
their  appearance,  and  the  source  from  which  they  derive 
their  waters,  but,  above  all,  differing  in  the  country 
bordering  on  them;  the  one  constantly  receiving  great 
accession  of  water  from  four  streams,  and  as  liberally 
rendering  fertile  a  great  extent  of  country,  whilst  the 
other,  from  its  source  to  its  termination  is  constantly 
diffusing  and  diminishing  the  water  it  originally  receives 
over  low  and  barren  deserts,  creating  only  wet  flats  and 
uninhabitable  morasses,  and  during  its  protracted  and 
sinuous  course  is  never  indebted  to  a  single  tributary 
stream. ' ' 

(iii.) — The  Liverpool  Plains. 

The  disappointment  occasioned  by  Oxley 's  return  to 
Bathurst  and  his  failure  to  trace  the  course  of  the  Lachlan 
was  in  part  atoned  for  by  the  high  opinion  he  had  formed 
of  the  Macquarie.  A  second  expedition  was  planned,  and 
the  command  again  offered  to  the  Surveyor-General. 


JOHN   OXLEY  33 

Evans  was  again  second,  and  Dr.  Harris,  a  very  able 
man,  accompanied  the  party  as  a  volunteer.  Charles 
Frazer  was  botanist,  but  Allan  Cunningham  did  not  go. 
The  expedition  was  on  a  slightly  larger  scale,  there  being, 
besides  those  already  mentioned,  twelve  ordinary 
members,  with  eighteen  horses  and  provisions  for  twenty- 
four  weeks.  A  depot  was  formed  at  Wellington  Valley, 
and  men  sent  ahead  to  build  two  boats. 

On  June  6th,  the  start  was  made  from  the  depot,  and 
for  the  first  125  miles  no  obstacles  nor  impediments  were 
met  with.  Elated  by  this,  0x1  ey  sent  two  men  back  to 
Bathurst,  in  accordance  with  instructions,  bearing  a 
favourable  despatch  to  Governor  Macquarie.  But  Fate 
was  again  deriding  the  unfortunate  explorer.  No  sooner 
had  the  two  parties  separated,  one  with  well-grounded 
hopes  of  their  ultimate  success,  the  other  bearing  back 
tidings  of  these  confident  hopes,  than  doubt  and  distrust 
entered  into  the  mind  of  the  leader.  Twenty-four  hours 
after  the  departure  of  the  messengers,  Oxley  wrote  in  his 
journal : — 

''For  four  or  five  miles  there  was  no  material  change 
in  the  general  appearance  of  the  country  from  what  it 
had  been  on  the  preceding  days,  but  for  the  last  six  miles 
the  land  was  considerably  lower,  interspersed  with  plains 
clear  of  timber  and  dry.  On  the  banks  it  was  still  lower, 
and  in  Tasmj  places  it  was  evident  that  the  river-floods 
swept  over  them,  although  this  did  not  appear  to  be 
universally  the  case.  .  .  These  unfavourable  appear- 
ances threw  a.  damp  upon  our  hopes,  and  we  feared  that 
our  anticipations  had  been  too  sanguine." 

And  still,  as  Oxley  went  on,  he  found  the  country 
getting  flatter  and  more  liable  to  inundation,  until 
at  last,  with  a  heart  nearly  as  low  as  the 
country,  he  found  himself  almost  hemmed  in  by 
water.  In  fact,  it  was  necessary  to  retrace  steps 
in  order  to  find  a  place  where  they  could  encamp 
with  safety.  Upon  this  emergency,  Oxley  held 
a  consultation  with  Evans  and  Harris,  and  it  was  decided 
to  send  the  baggage  and  horses  back  to  a  small  and  safe 
elevation  that  stood  some  fifteen  miles  higher  up  the  river,. 


34  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

thus  making  a  subsidiary  depot  camp.  Oxley  himself^ 
with  four  volunteers  in  the  largest  of  the  two  boats, 
would  take  a  month's  provisions  and  follow  the 
stream  as  long  as  there  was  enough  water  to  float 
their  craft.  Meanwhile,  Evans,  during  Oxley 's  absence,, 
was  to  make  an  excursion  to  the  north-east,  and  return 
by  a  more  northerly  route,  this  being  the  direction  the 
party  intended  to  take,  should  the  river  fail  them  as  the 
Lachlan  had  done  on  the  previous  journey. 

It  was  a  wet  and  stormy  day  on  which  Oxley  started 
on  the  river  voyage.  For  about  twenty  miles  there  was,, 
as  Oxley  expresses  it,  ''no  country."  The  main  channels 
being  in  an  overflow  state,  the  flat  country  which 
surrounded  them  could  be  recognised  only  by  the  timber 
growing  on  the  banks.  The  clear  spaces  whereon  no 
trees  grew  were  now  covered  with  reeds,  which  stood  at  the 
height  of  six  or  seven  feet  above  the  surface.  That  night 
they  took  refuge  on  a  piece  of  land  which  was  so  nearly 
submerged  that  there  was  scarcely  enough  space  on  which 
to  kindle  a  fire.  In  the  morning  the  violence  of  the  storm 
had  somewhat  abated,  and  as  soon  as  the  grey  light  was- 
strong  enough  for  them  to  recognise  their  way,  they 
resumed  their  dreary  journey. 

Oxley  still  contrived  to  keep  to  what  he  took  to  be  the 
main  channel,  although,  as  it  now  pursued  its  course  amid 
a  dense  thicket  of  reeds,  it  was  becoming  more  difficult 
with  every  succeeding  mile.  Oxley 's  seamanship,  how- 
ever, stood  him  in  good  stead,  and  although  fallen  logs- 
now  began  to  obstruct  their  passage,  they  kept  doggedly 
on  for  another  twenty  miles.  There  was  no  diminution 
in  the  volume  of  the  current  that  was  now  bearing  them 
onward,  and  Oxley  felt  confident  that  he  was  approaching^ 
that  hidden  lake,  wherein  the  inland  waters  mingled  their 
streams,  and  of  whose  existence  he  thought  he  had  now 
every  reason  to  rest  assured.  Just  as  he  was  buoying 
his  spirits  up  with  these  hopes,  dreaming  that  in  future 
he  would  be  able  proudly  to  say. 

We  were  the  first  that  ever  burst 
luto  that  silent  sea, 


JOHN  OXLEY  35 

the  river  eluded  all  further  pursuit  by  spreading  out  in 
every  direction  amongst  the  ocean  of  reeds  that 
surrounded  them. 

Wounded  to  the  heart  at  this  unlooked-for  disappoint- 
ment, Oxley,  after  vainly  seeking  for  some  clue  or 
indication  by  which  he  could  continue  the  search,  had  to 
'bout  ship  and  return  to  the  camp  of  the  night  before.  He 
says  :— 

' '  There  was  no  channel  whatever  amongst  these  reeds, 
and  the  depth  varied  from  five  to  three  feet." 

Although  he  was  still  convinced  that  the  ''long  sought 
for  Australian  Sea"  existed,  he  recognised  the  futility 
of  continuing  this  search  to  the  westward,  in  which 
direction  some  malignant  genius  seemed  ever  to  persist 
in  thwarting  him;  and  so  he  regained  the  shelter  of  the 
depot  at  Mt.  Harris,  with  another  tale  of  frustrated 
hopes. 

Evans,  on  his  return  from  his  scouting  expedition  to 
the  north  and  north-east,  had  a  more  cheerful  story  to 
tell.  The  weather  had  been  wet  throughout,  and  the 
impassable  nature  of  the  country  occasioned  thereby  had 
hampered  him  greatly;  nevertheless  he  had  struggled 
across  the  worst  of  the  flat  country,  and  in  the  north-east 
had  come  to  a  new  river,  which  he  named  the  Castlereagh. 
He  was  absent  ten  days,  and  on  his  return  Oxley  deter- 
mined to  abandon  the  Macquarie,  which  had  proved  even 
more  deceptive  and  elusive  than  the  Lachlan,  and  to 
strike  out  for  the  higher  lands  which  Evans  reported 
having  seen. 

He  left  Mt.  Harris  on  July  20th,  first  burying  a  bottle 
there  containing  a  written  scheme  of  his  intended  move- 
ments, and  some  silver  coin.  Ten  years  afterwards. 
Captain  Sturt  made  an  ineffectual  search  for  this  bottle. 
Oxley  had  also  buried  a  bottle  at  the  point  of  his  depar- 
ture from  the  Lachlan.  Mitchell  searched  for  it  without 
success,  and  learned  afterwards  that  it  had  been  broken 
by  the  blacks. 

On  July  27th,  the  party  reached  the  bank  of  the  Castle- 
reagh, after  fighting  their  way  through  bog,  quagmire. 


36  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

and  all  the  difficulties  common  to  virgin  country  during 
continued  wet  weather.  As  the  direction  they  were 
steering  was  towards  a  range  seen  by  Evans,  and  named 
Arbuthnot  Eange,  their  march  was  again  interrupted  by 
finding  the  new-found  river  this  time  running  bank-high, 
having  evidently  risen  immediately  after  Evans  had 
crossed  it  on  his  return  journey.  Here,  perforce,  they 
had  to  stay  until  the  water  subsided,  and  it  was  not  until 
August  2nd  that  the  river  had  fallen  enough  to  allow 
them  to  cross.  The  ground  was  still  soaked  and  boggy, 
and  the  horses  having  had  to  carry  increased  pack-loads 
since  the  abandonment  of  the  boats,  the  party  suffered 
great  toil  and  hardship  in  their  efforts  to  gain  Arbuthnot 
Range.  The  Range  was  reached,  however,  and  rounding 
one  end  of  it  by  skirting  the  base  of  a  prominent  hill 
which  they  named  Mt.  Exmouth,  the  harassed  explorers 
at  last  emerged  upon  splendid  pastoral  country. 

As  Oxley,  from  a  commanding  position,  surveyed  the 
magnificent  scene  spread  out  beneath  him — gentle  hills 
separating  smiling  valleys,  which  in  their  turn  merged 
into  undulating  plains  all  ripe  for  settlement — he  must 
have  felt  that  Fate  had  at  length  relented,  and  granted 
him  a  measure  of  reward  as  the  discoverer  of  this 
beautiful  land.  He  called  the  locality  Liverpool  Plains, 
and  the  name  has  long  been  synonymous  with  pastoral 
prosperity.  Their  journey  to  the  eastward,  which  carried 
them  through  the  heart  of  this  rich  and  highly-favoured 
country,  was  now  less  arduous;  and  though  the  ground 
was  still  wet  from  the  late  soaking  rains,  the  sun  shone 
cheerily  overhead,  and  the  horses,  revelling  in  the  abun- 
dant rich  grass  and  succulent  herbage,  began  to  recover 
their  strength.  On  September  2nd,  they  came  to  a  river, 
which  Oxley  named  the  Peel;  and  here  the  expedition 
narrowly  escaped  the  shadow  of  a  fatality,  one  man 
being  nearly  drowned  whilst  crossing.  After  leaving  the 
Peel,  Oxley  still  continued  easterly,  traversing  splendid 
open  grazing  country.  He  was  now  approaching  the 
dividing  water-shed  of  the  Main  Range,  to  the  northward 
of  that  portion  of  it  which  is  known  at  the  present  day 


JOHIiT  OXLEY  37 

as  the  Liverpool  Range.  Here  the  deep  glens  and  gullies 
with  which  the  seaward  front  is  serrated,  began  to  inter- 
fere seriously  with  the  direct  course  of  travel,  and  at  the 
heads  of  many  of  them  there  were  cataracts  and  water- 
falls which  compelled  the  wanderers  to  turn  away  to  the 
south;  and  on  one  occasion  to  revert  almost  to  the  west. 
One  of  these  striking  natural  features  received  the  name  of 
Becket's  Cataract,  and  another  was  christened  Bathurst's 
Falls.  Once  again  tempests  and  storms  beset  them,  and 
this  wild  weather  found  them  wandering  amongst  the 
steep  ravines  and  dizzy  descents  of  the  mountainous 
range,  seeking  a  way  leading  to  the  lowlands. 

It  was  on  September  23rd  that  Oxley  and  Evans,  while 
searching  for  a  practicable  route,  climbed  a  tall  peak,  and 
from  the  summit  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  sea.  It  seems 
to  have  greatly  impressed  Oxley,  and  he  writes  in  his 
journal  of  his  emotions  on  the  occasion : — 

''Bilboa's  ecstacy  at  the  first  sight  of  the  South  Sea 
could  not  have  been  greater  than  ours  when,  on  gaining 
the  summit  of  this  mountain,  we  beheld  Old  Ocean  at  our 
feet.  It  inspired  us  with  new  life;  every  difficulty 
vanished,  and  in  imagination  we  were  already  home." 

The  descent  was  attended  with  many  perils:  Oxley 
says  that  at  one  period  he  would  willingly  have 
compromised  for  the  loss  of  one-third  of  the  horses  to 
ensure  the  safety  of  the  remainder.  But  the  men  with 
him  were  tried  and  steady,  and  the  thick  tufts  of  grass 
and  the  loose  soil  afforded  them  help  in  securing  a  surer 
footing,  of  ev^ry  chance  of  availing  themselves  of  which 
the  men  skilfully  took  advantage,  so  that  both  men  and 
horses  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain — ^now  called  Mt. 
Seaview — without  mishap. 

They  had  reached  the  head  of  a  river  running  into 
the  Pacific,  and  proceeded  to  follow  its  course  down  with 
more  or  less  difficulty  until  they  reached  the  mouth,  when 
Oxley,  judging  the  entrance  to  be  navigable,  named  it 
Port  Macquarie,  though  one  should  imagine  that  he  had 
become  tired  of  that  name.  The  river  was  named  the 
Hastings. 


38  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

On  October  12th,  a  toilsome  march  commenced, 
following  the  shore  to  the  southward.  The  wearisome 
interruptions  of  the  many  inlets  and  saltwater  creeks 
greatly  fatigued  and  distressed  his  men.  But  at  last  they 
came  upon  a  boat,  half-buried  in  the  sand,  which  had 
been  lost  some  time  before  from  a  Hawkesbury  coaster. 
This  they  cleaned  and  patched,  and  carried  with  them, 
utilising  it  during  the  latter  stages  of  this  weary  journey 
to  facilitate  the  passage  of  the  many  saltwater  creeks 
and  channels  that  impeded  their  progress.  It  is  owing 
to  the  possession  of  this  derelict  boat  that  Oxley  crossed 
the  mouth  of  the  Manning  without  identifying  it  as  a 
river.  The  blacks  now  harassed  them  greatly,  and  it  was 
during  one  of  the  attacks  made  upon  the  party  that  one 
of  the  men,  named  William  Black,  was  dangerously 
wounded,  being  speared  through  the  back  and  the  lower 
part  of  the  body.  The  care  and  conveyance  of  this 
invalided  man  was  now  added  to  Oxley 's  other  anxieties, 
and  it  was  with  feelings  of  great  satisfaction  that  on 
November  1st  they  caught  sight  of  the  rude  buildings  of 
Port  Stephens.  Through  much  hardship  and  privations 
he  had  brought  his  party  back  without  loss. 

Oxley  sent  Evans  on  to  Newcastle  with  despatches  to 
the  Governor,  in  which  he  alluded  to  his  sanguine 
anticipations  at  the  time  he  had  sent  in  his  last 
report,  and  their  almost  immediate  collapse.  But  the 
discovery  of  Liverpool  Plains  compensated  in  some 
degree  for  the  disappointment  caused  by  the  renewed 
failure  that  had  attended  Oxley 's  efforts  to  trace  an 
inland  river. 

In  the  following  year,  1819,  the  ''Lady  Nelson,"  with 
the  Surveyor-General  on  board,  visited  the  newly-found 
Port  Macquarie  and  the  Hastings  Eiver,  to  survey  the 
entrance;  in  which  task  he  was  assisted  by  Lieutenant 
P.  P.  King  in  the  ''Mermaid."  On  his  return  to  Port 
Jackson,  in  the  same  year,  he  made  a  short  excursion  to 
Jarvis  Bay  with  Surveyor  Meehan,  when  they  were 
accompanied  by  the  explorer  who  was  to  win  fame  as 


JOHN  OXLEY  39 

Hamilton  Hume.    Oxley  returned  by  boat,  his  companions 
overland. 

(iv.) — The  Brisbane  Kiver. 

It  was  in  October,  1823,  that  Oxley  left  Sydney  on  the 
expedition  that  resulted  in  the  finding  of  the  Brisbane 
River,  and  the  foundation  of  the  settlement  at  Moreton 
Bay.  He  was  despatched  on  a  mission  to  examine  certain 
openings  on  the  east  coast,  and  report  on  the  suitability 
of  them  as  sites  for  penal  establishments.  Moreton  Bay, 
Port  Curtis,  and  Port  Bowen  were  selected;  and  Oxley 
left  in  the  colonial  cutter  ''Mermaid,"  with  Uniacke  and 
Stirling  as  assistants. 

As  the  cutter  went  up  the  coast,  she  called  at  Port 
Macquarie,  and  Oxley  had  the  pleasure  of  noting  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  settlement  that  had  been  built  upon 
his  recommendation.  Further  along  the  coast,  Oxley 
discovered  and  named  the  Tweed  River.  The  "Mermaid" 
reached  Port  Curtis  on  the  6th  of  November,  and  cast 
anchor  for  some  time,  during  which  Oxley  made  a  careful 
examination  of  the  locality,  his  opinion  of  it  as  a  site 
for  a  settlement  being  decidedly  unfavourable.  He  how- 
ever discovered  and  named  the  Boyne  River. 

It  being  considered  too  late  in  the  season  to  proceed 
and  examine  Port  Bowen,  the  ''Mermaid"  went  south 
again,  and  entering  Moreton  Bay,  anchored  off  the  river 
that  appeared  to  Flinders  to  take  its  source  in  the  Glass 
House  Peaks,  and  which  he  had  called  the  Pumice  Stone 
River. 

They  had  scarcely  anchored  when  several  natives  were 
seen  at  a  distance,  evidently  attracted  by  their  arrival, 
and  on  examining  them  with  the  telescope,  Uniacke  was 
struck  with  the  appearance  of  one  of  a  much  lighter 
colour  than  that  of  his  companions.  The  next  day  Oxley 
landed  and  discovered  that  the  man  they  had  noticed  was 
in  reality  a  castaway  white  man  of  the  name  of  Pamphlet. 
He  told  a  singular  tale. 

He  had  left  Sydney  in  an  open  boat  with  three  others, 
intending  to  go  to  the  Five  Islands  and  bring  back  cedar. 


40  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

A  terrible  gale  arose,  and  they  were  blown  out  to  sea 
and  quite  out  of  their  reckoning,  Pamphlet  being  under 
the  impression  that  they  had  come  ashore  south  of  Port 
Jackson.  They  had  suffered  fearful  hardships  in  the 
open  boat,  being  at  one  time,  he  averred,  twenty-one  days 
without  water,  during  which  time  one  man  died  of  thirst. 
The  boat  was  at  last  cast  up  on  an  island  in  the  bay 
(Moreton  Island)  where  they  had  joined  the  blacks,  and 
lived  amongst  them  ever  since,  a  matter  of  seven  months. 
The  other  survivors  were  named  Finnegan  and  Parsons. 
Pamphlet  informed  Oxley  that  not  long  before  the 
''Mermaid"  arrived,  the  three  of  them  had  started  to  try 
and  reach  Sydney  overland,  but  when  they  had  got  about 
fifty  miles,  he  had  turned  back  and  the  next  day  had 
been  rejoined  by  Finnegan,  who  stated  that  he  had  quar- 
relled with  Parsons.    The  latter  was  never  heard  of  again. 

Finnegan  put  in  an  appearance  the  next  day,  and  Oxley 
naturally  took  the  opportunity  to  question  them  as  to 
the  knowledge  they  had  gained  of  the  surrounding 
country,  during  their  enforced  stay  in  it.  On  one  impor- 
tant point  both  of  them  were  confident,  and  this  was 
that,  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  bay,  a  large  river  was 
to  be  found  which  appeared  navigable,  having  a  strong 
current. 

Taking  Finnegan  with  them,  Oxley  and  Stirling  started 
in  the  whaleboat  the  following  morning  to  verify  this 
information.  They  found  the  river  and  pulled  up  it  about 
fifty  miles.  Oxley  was  greatly  pleased  with  such  a 
discovery,  and  landing,  ascended  a  hill  which  he  named 
Termination  Hill.  From  the  top  he  obtained  a  view  over 
a  wide  extent  of  country,  through  which  he  was  able  to 
trace  the  river  for  a  long  distance.  Strangely  enough, 
the  hasty  glimpse  he  thus  caught  of  a  new  and  untrodden 
part  of  Australia  seemed  to  confirm  his  fixed  belief  in 
the  final  destination  of  the  Lachlan  and  the  Macquarie 
as  an  inland  sea. 

''The  nature  of  the  country  and  a  consideration  of  all 
the  circumstances  connected  with  the  appearances  of  the 
river,  justify  me  in  entertaining  a  strong  belief  that  the 


JOHN   OXLEY  4L 

source  of  the  river  will  not  be  found  in  mountainous- 
country,  but  rather  that  it  flows  from  some  lake,  which 
will  prove  to  be  the  receptacle  of  those  inland  streams- 
crossed  by  me  during  an  expedition  of  discovery  in  1818. ' ' 
Oxley  named  the  river  the  Brisbane,  and,  taking  aboard 
the  two  rescued  men,  the  "Mermaid"  set  sail  for  Port 
Jackson,  where  she  arrived  on  December  13th.  This  ended 
the  chapter  of  Oxley 's  discoveries  in  the  field  of  active- 
exploration. 


Chapter  IV. 
HAMILTON  HUME. 


(i.) — Early  Achievements. 

Hamilton  Hume  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Hume,  who  came  to  the  colony  with  his  wife  in 
the  transport  ''Lady  Juliana,"  and  held  an  appoint- 
ment in  the  Commissariat  Department.  Hamilton 
was     born     in     Parramatta     in     the     year     1797,     on 

the  18th  of  June.  He  seems 
to  have  been  specially 
marked  out  by  Nature  for 
prominence  as  an  explorer, 
for,  from  his  earliest  boy- 
hood he  was  fond  of  rambling 
through  the  bush,  and  his 
father  encouraged  him  in  his 
desire  for  a  free  country  life 
and  his  love  of  adventure. 
School  facilities  were  lacking, 
but  fortunately  his  mother 
attended  to  his  education  and 
saw  to  it  that  he  did  not 
grow  up  destitute  of  that 
instruction  common  to  youth 
of  those  times  and  of  his 
standing. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  made  his  initial  effort  at 
exploration  in  the  country  around  Berrima,  in  company 
with  his  brother  Kennedy  and  a  black  boy.  They  were 
successful  in  their  endeavours,  and  found  some  good 
pastoral  country.  In  the  following  year,  encouraged  by 
their  success,  the  brothers  made  another  excursion.    In 


Hamilton  Hume,  in  his  later  life. 


HAMILTON    HUME  43 

1816,  a  Mr.  Throsby  bought  some  of  the  land  that  young 
Kennedy  and  Hamilton  had  found ;  and  their  father  sent 
them  out  with  him  to  show  him  the  country  he  had 
purchased.  John  Oxley,  too,  held  a  farm  in  the  Illawarra 
district,  and  the  Surveyor-General,  who  must  have  heard 
of  Hamilton's  repute  for  good  bushmanship,  engaged  him 
to  go  out  with  his  overseer  and  guide  the  men  on  to  the 
locality.  Governor  Macquarie  also  seems  to  have  had  his 
attention  drawn  to  the  same  conspicuous  quality,  for  he 
sent  young  Hume  out  with  Meehan,  a  surveyor,  and 
Throsby  to  examine  the  country  about  the  Shoalhaven 
River.  On  the  way,  however,  Throsby  disagreed  with 
Meehan  about  the  course  they  should  adopt,  and,  taking 
a  black  boy  with  him,  left  his  companions  and  made  the 
best  of  his  way  to  Port  Jervis.  Meehan  and  Hume 
carried  out  the  work  as  originally  decided  on,  and  then 
forced  their  way  up  the  range,  which  had  now  seemingly 
been  deprived  of  a  great  many  of  its  original  terrors  by 
the  hardy  pioneers  of  the  coast.  On  the  highlands  they 
discovered  and  named  Lake  George,  a  freshwater  lake, 
and  a  smaller  one  which  they  called  Lake  Bathurst,  both, 
strange  to  say,  seemingly  isolated. 

Here  we  may  remark  on  the  tenacity  with  which  the 
Murrumbidgee  River  long  eluded  the  eye  of  the  white 
man.  It  is  scarcely  probable  that  Meehan  and  Hume, 
who  on  this  occasion  were  within  comparatively  easy 
reach  of  the  head  waters,  could  have  seen  a  new  inland 
river  at  that  time  without  mentioning  the  fact,  but  there 
is  no  record' traceable  anywhere  as  to  the  date  of  its 
discovery,  or  the  name  of  its  finder.  When  in  1823 
Captain  Currie  and  Major  Ovens  were  led  along  its  bank 
on  to  the  beautiful  Maneroo  country  by  Joseph  Wild,  the 
stream  was  then  familiar  to  the  early  settlers  and  called 
the  "Morumbidgee."  Even  in  1821,  when  Hume  found 
the  Yass  Plains,  almost  on  its  bank,  he  makes  no  special 
mention  of  the  river.  From  all  this  we  may  deduce  the 
extremely  probable  fact  that  the  position  of  the  river 
was  shown  to  some  stockrider  by  a  native,  who  also 
confided  the  aboriginal  name,  and  so  it  gradually  worked 


44  EXPLOREES  OF  AUSTRALIA 

the  knowledge  of  its  identity  into  general  belief.  This 
theory  is  the  more  feasible  as  the  river  has  retained  its 
native  name.  If  a  white  man  of  any  known  position  had 
made  the  discovery,  it  would  at  once  have  received  the 
name  of  some  person  holding  official  sway.  But  this  is 
altogether  a  purely  geographical  digression. 

It  was  while  on  this  expedition  that  Hume  found  the 
Goulburn  Plains.  On  another  occasion  he  went  with 
Alexander  Berry,  a  noted  south-coast  pioneer,  up  the 
Shoalhaven  Eiver,  and  accompanied  the  party  when  they 
landed  and  conducted  different  excursions.  By  the  time 
he  reached  manhood,  Hume  was  justly  classed  amongst 
the  finest  bushmen  in  the  colony.  In  his  after  career  when 
he  led  the  famous  expedition  to  the  south  coast,  and 
again,  when  as  Sturt's  right  hand  he  accompanied  that 
explorer  on  the  notable  expedition  that  solved  the  mystery 
of  the  outflow  of  the  inland  rivers  and  gave  to  settled 
Australia  the  mighty  Darling,  he  fully  proved  his  right 
to  the  title. 

(ii.) — Discovery  of  the  Hume  or  Murray. 

It  is  perhaps  by  his  fame  as  leader  of  the  party  that 
crossed  from  Lake  George  to  the  Southern  Ocean  that 
Hume's  name  is  best  remembered.  At  that  time  especially 
it  aroused  anew  the  bright  hopes  for  the  future  of  the 
interior  that  Oxley's  gloomy  prognostications  had  done 
so  much  to  depress.  The  Surveyor- General  having  been 
unable  to  determine  the  question  as  to  whether  any 
large  river  entered  the  sea  between  Cape  Otway  and 
Spencer's  Gulf,  a  somewhat  hazardous  idea  entered  the 
head  of  the  then  Governor,  Sir  Thomas  Brisbane,  to  land 
a  party  of  convicts  near  Wilson's  Promontory,  and  induce 
them  by  the  offer  of  a  free  pardon  and  a  grant  of  land 
to  find  their  way  back  to  Sydney  overland.  It  was  further 
proposed  that  an  experienced  bushman  should  be  put  in 
charge  of  them.  The  flattering  offer  of  this  responsible, 
if  somewhat  precarious  position,  was  made  to  young 
Hamilton  Hume  who,  on  mature  consideration,  declined  it. 


HAMILTON   HUME 


45 


46  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

He  offered,  however,  to  conduct  a  party  from  Lake 
George  to  Western  Port  if  the  Government  would  provide 
the  necessary  assistance.  This  offer  the  authorities 
accepted,  but  they  forgot  the  essential  condition  of 
furnishing  assistance.  Naturally,  much  delay  and 
vexation  were  caused  by  this  display  of  official  ineptitude. 
At  this  juncture  a  retired  coasting  skipper.  Captain 
William  Hilton  Hovell,  made  an  offer  to  join  the  party^ 
and  find  half  the  necessary  cattle  and  horses.  This  offer 
aroused  the  Government  to  some  sense  of  its  respon- 
sibility, and  it  agreed  to  do  something  in  the  matter. 
This  ^'something"  amounted  to  six  pack-saddles  and  gear, 
one  tent  of  Parramatta  cloth,  two  tarpaulins,  a  suit  of 
slop  clothes  a-piece  for  the  men,  and  an  order  to  Hume  to 
select  1,200  acres  of  land  for  himself.  In  addition,  the 
Government  generously  granted  the  explorers  two  skele- 
ton charts  upon  which  to  trace  the  route  of  their  journey, 
a  few  bushmen,  and  promised  a  cash  payment  for  the  hire 
of  the  cattle  should  an  important  discovery  be  made. 
This  cash  payment  was  refused  on  their  return,  although 
one  would  have  thought  that  the  discovery  of  the  Hume 
(Murray)  should  surely  take  rank  as  an  important 
discovery.  Hume  also  stated  that  he  had  much  difficulty 
in  obtaining  tickets-of-leave  for  the  men,  and  the 
confirmation  of  his  own  order  to  select  land  for  himself. 

Each  of  the  leaders  brought  with  him  three  men,  so- 
that  the  strength  of  the  party  was  eight  all  told.  Their 
outfit  of  animals  consisted  of  five  bullocks  and  three 
horses,  and  they  had  two  carts  with  them. 

Hovell  was  born  at  Yarmouth  on  the  26th  of  April, 
1786.  He  arrived  in  Sydney  in  1813,  but  after  being 
engaged  in  the  coasting  trade  with  occasional  trips  to 
New  Zealand,  he  had  relinquished  his  career  as  a  sailor 
and  had  settled  at  Narellan,  New  South  Wales.  After 
his  exploring  expedition  with  Hume,  he  settled  down  at 
Goulburn,  and  he  died  at  Sydney  in  1876. 

On  the  14th  of  October,  1824,  Hume  and  Hovell  left 
Lake  George.  Reaching  the  Murrumbidgee,  they  found 
that  river  flooded,  and  after  waiting  three  days  for  the 
water  to  fall,  they  crossed  it  borne  on  the  body  of  one 


HAMILTON   HUME  47 

of  their  carts,  with  the  wheels  detached,  and  with  the 
aid  of  the  tarpaulin,  rigged  like  a  punt.  South  of  the 
Murrumbidgee  the  country  was  broken  and  difficult  to 
traverse,  but  it  was  well  grassed  and  admirably  adapted 
for  grazing  purposes.  As  it  became  too  rough  for  the 
passage  of  their  carts,  these  were  abandoned,  and  the 
baggage  and  rations  were  packed  on  the  bullocks  for  the 
remainder  of  their  journey. 

After  following  the  course  of  the  Murrumbidgee  for 
some  days,  the  travellers  turned  from  its  bank  and 
pursued  a  south-westerly  direction,  which  led  them 
through  hills  and  valleys  richly  grassed  and  plenteously 
endowed  with  running  streams.  On  the  8th  of  November 
they  beheld  a  sight  rarely  witnessed  before  by  white  men 
in  Australia.  Ascending  a  range  in  order  to  obtain  a 
view  of  the  country  ahead  of  them,  they  suddenly  found 
themselves  confronted  with  snow-capped  mountains. 
There,  under  the  brilliant  sun  of  an  Australian  summer 's 
day,  rose  the  white  crests  of  lofty  peaks  that  might  have 
found  fitting  surroundings  amidst  the  chilling  splendours 
of  some  far  southern  clime,  robed  as  they  were  for  nearly 
one-fourth  of  their  height  in  glistening  snow. 

Skirting  this  range,  which  received  the  name  of  the 
Australian  Alps,  the  explorers,  after  wandering  for 
eight  days  across  its  many  spurs,  came  upon  a  fine, 
flowing  river,  which  Hume  named  after  his  father,  the 
Hume.  This  river  was  destined  to  be  re-named  the 
Murray,  when  its  course  was  eventually  followed  to  the 
ocean.* 

There  being  no  safe  ford,  a  makeshift  boat  was 
constructed  with  the  aid  of  the  serviceable  tarpaulin,  and 
the  Hume  was  crossed,  close  to  the  site  of  the  present  town 
of  Albury.  Still  passing  through  good  pastoral  land, 
watered  by  numerous  creeks,  they  crossed  a  river  which 
was  named  the  Ovens,  and  on  the  3rd  of  December  they 
came  to  another,  named  by  them  the  Hovell,  but  now 
called  the  Goulburn;  and  on  the  16th  of  December  they 

.  See  Chapter  VI. 


48  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

reached  their  goal,  the  shore  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  at 
the  spot  where  Geelong  now  stands. 

This  expedition  had  a  great  and  immediate  influence 
on  the  extension  of  Australian  settlement.  Within  a 
:few  years  after  the  chief  surveyor  had  characterised  the 
western  interior,  beyond  a  certain  limit,  as  unfitted  for 
human  habitation,  and  had  expressed  his  opinion  that  the 
monotonous  flats  across  which  he  vainly  looked  for  any 
-elevation  extended  to  the  sea-coast,  snowy  mountains, 
feeding  the  head  tributaries  of  perennial  rivers  had  been 
discovered  to  the  southward  of  his  track. 

Hume  was  exceptionally  fitted  for  the  work  of  explor- 
ation at  this  particular  juncture  in  colonial  history. 
Born  and  reared  in  the  land,  he  was  well  competent  to 
judge  justly  of  its  merits  and  demerits ;  his  opinion  was 
not  likely  to  be  tainted  by  the  prejudices  formed  and 
nourished  in  other  and  different  climes.  The  history 
-of  Australian  exploration  was  then  a  statement  of  hasty 
conclusions,  formed  perhaps  under  certain  climatic 
•circumstances  to  be  falsified  on  a  subsequent  visit  when 
the  conditions  were  radically  different.  In  Hume's  case, 
there  was  no  ill-founded  conclusion  of  the  availability 
of  the  freshly-discovered  district.  The  journey  just 
recorded  at  once  added  to  the  British  Colonial  Empire 
millions  of  acres  of  arable  land  watered  by  never-failing 
rivers,  with  a  climate  and  altitude  calculated  to  foster  the 
growth  of  almost  every  species  of  temperate  fruit  or 
grain. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  narration  of  an  expedition 
fraught  with  so  much  benefit  to  the  young  colony,  and 
•executed  with  so  much  courage,  endurance,  and  facility  of 
resource  should  be  marred  by  any  discordant  note.  But 
friendly  and  genial  relations  were  endangered  by  the 
presence  of  two  independent  leaders.  Divided  authority 
Tiere,  as  it  nearly  always  does,  caused  petty  and  undig- 
nified squabbles,  which  were  in  later  days  elaborated  into 
unseemly  paper  conflict.  It  is  painful  if  somewhat 
amusing  to  read  of  the  acrid  disputes  as  to  the  course, 
under  the  very  shadow  of  the  majestic  Australian  Alps 
vs^hose  solitude  had   only  then  been  first  disturbed  by 


HAMILTON   HUME  49 

white  men;  and  how,  on  agreeing  to  separate  and  divide 
the  outfit,  it  was  proposed  to  cut  the  only  tent  in  two, 
and  how  the  one  frying-pan  was  broken  by  both  men 
pulling  at  it.  Thomas  Boyd,  who  was  the  only  survivor 
of  the  party  in  1883,  and  was  then  eighty-six  years  old, 
signed  a  document  assigning  to-  Hume  the  full  credit  of 
conducting  the  expedition  to  safety.  Boyd  was  one  of 
the  most  active  members  of  the  expedition,  always  to  the 
front  when  there  was  any  trying  work  to  be  done.  He 
was  the  first  white  man  to  cross  the  Hume  River,  swim- 
ming over  with  the  end  of  a  line  in  his  teeth. 

After  Hume's  return  he  lived  for  some  time  quietly  on 
his  farm,  until  the  ''call  of  the  wild"  drew  him  forth 
from  his  retirement  to  join  Sturt  in  his  first  battle  with 
the  wilderness.  His  temporary  association  with  that 
explorer  will  find  its  due  place  in  the  account  of  that 
expedition.*  He  died  at  Yass,  near  the  scene  of  one  of 
his  early  exploits. 


"See  Page  ( 


Chapter  V. 
ALLAN  CUNNINGHAM. 


(i.) — Coastal  Expeditions. 
Allan  Cunningham,  the  great  botanical  explorer  of 
Australia,  was  born  at  Wimbledon,  near  London,  in  1791. 
He  received  a  good  education,  his  father  intending  him 
for  the  law;  but  he  preferred  gardening,  and  obtained  a 
position  under  Mr.  Aiton,  at  Kew.    In  1814  he  went  to 

Brazil,  where  he  made 
large  collections  of  dried 
specimens,  living  plants, 
and  seeds.  Here  he 
remained  two  years,  col- 
lecting in  the  vicinity  of 
Rio,  the  Organ  Mountains, 
San  Paolo,  and  other  parts 
of  Brazil.  Sir  Joseph 
Banks  wrote  that  his 
collections,  especially  of 
orchids,  bromeliads,  and 
bulbs,  "did  credit  to 
the  expedition  and  honour 
to  the  Royal  Gardens.'^ 
He  was  nominated 
for  service  in  New 
South  Wales,  and  landed 
at  Port  Jackson  on  the  21st  of  December,  1816.*  He 
first  started  collecting  about  the  present  suburb  of 
Woolloomooloo  in  Sydney,  which  we  may  infer  therefrom 
presented  a  very  different  appearance  from  that  which 

*For  the  accompanying  notes  of  Allan  Cunningham's  earlier  lifework  I  am  indebted 
to  the  "Biographical  Notes  concerning  Allan  Cunningham,"  compiled  by  Mr.  J.  H. 
Maiden,  Director  of  the  Sydney  Botanical  Gardens. 

60 


Allan  Cunningham. 


ALLAN    CUNNINGHAM  51 

it  now  presents.  He  next  went  with  Oxley  on 
his  Lachlan  expedition.  On  his  return,  he  com- 
menced the  first  of  his  five  coastal  voyages, 
in  which  he  accompanied  Captain  P.  P.  King  around  most 
of  the  continent  of  Australia,  In  the  tiny  cutter 
the  ''Mermaid,"  of  84  tons,  they  left  Port  Jackson  on 
the  22nd  of  December,  1817,  and  sailed  round  the  south 
coast  of  Australia  to  King  George's  Sound,  the  west 
coast,  the  north  coast,  and  finally  to  Timor.  The 
''Mermaid"  returned  by  the  same  route  and  anchored 
in  Port  Jackson  on  the  24th  of  July,  1818.  Again  on  the 
24th  of  December,  the  "Mermaid"  left  Port  Jackson 
on  a  short  trip  to  Tasmania,  from  which  they  returned 
in  February,  1819.  Once  more  the  busy  little  "Mermaid" 
sailed  from  Sydney  on  the  8th  of  May,  1819,  to  make  a 
running  survey  of  the  east  coast.  On  this  voyage,  many 
ports  hitherto  unvi sited  were  examined  by  King,  and 
amongst  other  places,  Cunningham  paid  his  first  visit 
to  the  Endeavour  River.  Continuing  the  survey,  she 
rounded  Cape  York,  crossed  the  mouth  of  the 
Carpentaria  Gulf,  and  kept  along  the  north  coast,  where 
King  found  Cambridge  Gulf.  At  Cassini  Island,  the 
"Mermaid"  left  for  Timor,  and  eventually  returned  to 
Sydney  round  the  west  coast  of  Australia. 

On  the  14th  of  June,  1820,  the  "Mermaid"  was  again 
busy  with  King  and  Cunningharh  on  board,  and,  sailing 
up  the  east  coast  she  re-visited  the  Endeavour  River. 
During  their  stay,  Cunningham  ascended  Mt.  Cook,  where 
he  made  a  fine  collection  of  seeds  and  plants.  She 
coasted  north  again  and  picked  up  the  survey  at  Cassini 
Island  once  more.  At  Careening  Bay,  where  they  had 
occasion  to  stay  some  time,  Cunningham  was  again 
very  fortunate  in  his  collections.  Returning  homeward 
by  way  of  the  west  and  south  coasts,  the  little  cutter 
was  almost  wrecked  off  Botany  Bay. 

The  "Mermaid"  was  now  overhauled  and  condemned, 
and  in  her  place  H.M.  Storeship  "Dromedary,"  re- 
christened  the  "Bathurst,"  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant  King.  This  was  Cunningham's 
fifth  voyage  as  collector  with  the  same  commander — a 


52  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

very  clear  proof  of  their  compatibility  of  tastes  and 
temperament.  As  before,  the  "Bathurst"  ran  round 
the  east  coast  and  resumed  her  work  on  the  north-west 
of  Australia.  While  thus  engaged  she  was  found  to  be 
in  a  dangerous  condition,  and  went  to  Port  Louis  to  refit. 
They  sailed  from  Mauritius  on  the  15th  of  November, 
and  reached  King  George's  Sound  on  the  24th  of 
December.  Here  Cunningham  found  that  the  garden  he 
had  been  at  great  pains  to  form  during  his  visit  in  1818 
had  disappeared  altogether.  The  ''Bathurst"  stayed 
some  weeks  on  the  south-west  coast,  and  then  shaped  a 
course  to  Port  Jackson,  where  they  arrived  on  the  25th 
of  April,  1822.  Of  the  botany  of  these  coastal  surveys 
Cunningham  published  a  sketch  entitled,  "A  Few  General 
Eemarks  on  the  Vegetation  of  Certain  Coasts  of  Terra 
Austral  is,  and  more  especially  of  its  North- Western 
Shore." 

(ii.) — Pandora's  Pass. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  his  record  as  an  inland  explorer 
of  Australia. 

On  the  31st  of  March,  1823,  Allan  Cunningham  left 
Bathurst  with  two  objects  in  view.  One  was  his  favourite 
pursuit  of  botany;  and  the  other  the  discovery  of  an 
available  route  to  Oxley's  Liverpool  Plains,  through  the 
range  that  bounded  it  on  the  south ;  a  route  which  Lawson 
and  Scott  had  vainly  sought  for  the  preceding  year.  On 
reaching  the  vicinity  of  the  range,  he  searched  in  vain 
to  the  eastward  for  any  opening  that  would  enable  him 
to  pierce  the  barrier.  He  then  retraced  his  steps,  and, 
exploring  more  to  the  eastward,  he  came  upon  a  pass 
through  a  low  part  of  the  mountain  belt  which  he 
considered  practicable  and  easy.  The  valley  leading  to 
the  pass  he  named  Hawkesbury  Vale,  and  the  pass  itself 
Pandora's  Pass,  inasmuch  as,  in  spite  of  the  hardships 
the  party  had  been  put  to,  they  had  still  hoped  to  find 
it.  Here  Cunningham  left  a  parchment  document,  stating 
that  the  information  thereon  contained  was  for  the  first 
farmer  **who  may  venture  to  advance  as  far  to  the 
northward   as   this   vale."     The   finding   of   the   bottle 


ALLAN    CUNNINGHAM  53 

which  contained  this  scroll,  has  never  been  recorded. 
Bathnrst  was  reached  on  their  return  journey,  on  June 
27th. 

In  March,  1824,  he  botanised  about  the  heads  of  the 
Murrumbidgee  and  the  Monaro  and  Shoalhaven  Gullies, 
and  in  September  of  the  same  year,  went  north  by  sea 
with  Oxley  to  Moreton  Bay,  to  investigate  that  locality 
and  pronounce  on  its  suitability  as  a  settlement  site.  In 
March,  1825,  he  left  Parramatta,  threaded  the  Pandora 
Pass  once  more,  and  ascended  to  Liverpool  Plains, 
returning  to  Parramatta  on  the  17th  of  June.  In  1826 
and  the  beginning  of  the  following  year,  he  visited  New 
Zealand. 

(iii.) — The  Daeling  Downs. 

It  was  in  the  year  1827  that  Cunningham  accomplished 
his  most  notable  journey  of  exploration,  one  which 
eventually  threw  open  to  settlement  an  entirely  new  area 
of  country ;  country  destined  to  mould  the  destiny  of  the 
yet  unborn  colony  of  Queensland,  and  afford  homes  for 
thousands  of  settlers.  It  was  mainly  by  his  exertions 
that  the  young  community  at  Moreton  Bay  was  able  to 
stretch  its  growing  limbs  to  the  westward  immediately 
after  its  birth,  instead  of  waiting  long  weary  years  and 
wasting  its  strength  against  an  impassable  obstacle  as 
had  been  the  fate  of  the  settlement  at  Farm  Cove. 

Cunningham  started  from  Segenhoe,  a  station  on  one 
of  the  head  tributaries  of  the  Hunter  Eiver,  whence 
he  ascended  the  main  range  without  any  diflSculty  beyond 
having  to  unload  some  of  the  pack-horses  during  the 
steepest  part  of  the  ascent.  He  had  with  him  six  men, 
eleven  horses,  and  provisions  for  fourteen  weeks.  He 
left  civilisation,  or  the  outskirts  of  it,  on  the  2nd  of  May, 
and  on  the  11th  he  crossed  the  parallel  on  which  Oxley 
had  crossed  the  Peel  Eiver  in  1818,  and  once  beyond  that 
point  he  was  traversing  unexplored  coimtry.  The  land 
was  suffering  under  a  prolonged  drought  in  that  district, 
and  most  of  the  streams  encountered  had  but  detached 
pools  of  water  in  their  beds,  at  one  of  which,  however, 
his  party  caught  a  good  haul  of  cod,   which  were  such 


54  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

ravenous  biters  and  so  heavy  that  several  were  lost  in 
the  attempt  to  land  them. 

Travelling  through  open  forest  land,  which  was 
suifering  more  or  less  from  the  want  of  rain,  Cunningham 
came  on  the  19th  of  May  to  a  valley.  Here,  on  the  bank 
of  a  creek  he  encamped  on  ''the  most  luxuriant  pasture 
we  had  met  since  we  had  left  the  Hunter. ' ' 

''We  were  not  a  little  surprised,"  he  says,  "  to  observe 
at  this  valley,  so  remote  from  any  farming  establishment, 
the  traces  of  horned  cattle,  only  two  or  three  days  old, 
as  also  the  spots  on  which  about  eight  to  a  dozen  of  these 
animals  had  reposed.     .     . 

"From  what  point  of  the  country  these  cattle  had 
originally  strayed  appeared  at  first  difficult  to  determine. 
On  consideration,  however,  it  was  thought  by  no  means 
impossible  that  they  were  stragglers  from  the  large  wild 
herds  that  are  well-known  to  be  occupying  plains  around 
Arbuthnot  Range." 

This  speaks  volumes  for  the  wonderful  increase  and 
spread  of  wild  cattle  in  those  days;  Arbuthnot  Range, 
first  sighted  by  Evans  in  1817,  being  already  an 
acknowledged  resort  of  wild  cattle  in  seven  years.  Or 
it  advertises  the  negligence  of  the  stockmen  who  guarded 
the  comparatively  tiny  herds  of  the  period. 

The  dry  weather  had  put  its  mark  upon  the  country. 
Though  the  degree  of  aridity  was  much  less  than  that 
afterwards  experienced  in  Australia  by  the  explorers 
of  its  interior,  nevertheless  conditions  were  sufficiently 
dry  to  compel  the  leader  to  exercise  great  forethought, 
and  Cunningham  determined  to  pursue  a  more  easterly 
course,  keeping  nearer  the  crest  of  the  range,  where  he 
was  more  likely  to  find  grass  and  water.  The  country 
he  passed  through  was  inferior,  but  on  the  28th  he  came 
to  the  bank  of  a  river  "presenting  a  handsome  reach, 
half-a-mile  in  length,  thirty  yards  wide,  and  evidently 
very  deep."  This  river  he  named  the  Dumaresque,  and 
it  led  him  to  the  northward,  through  what  he  considered 
poor  land,  until  the  new-found  river  took  an  easterly 
direction,  when  the  party  left  it,  still  keeping  north.  At 
the  end  of  the  month,  after  passing  through  much  scrubby 


ALLAN    CUNNINGHAM  55 

country,  they  were  agreeably  surprised  to  meet  with  a 
stream,  the  banks  of  which  presented  an  appearance  of 
great  verdure.  ''It  was  a  subject  of  great  astonishment 
to  us  to  meet  with  so  beautiful  a  sward  of  grass 
permanently  watered  by  an  active  stream,  after 
traversing  that  tract  of  desert  forest,  and  penetrating 
brushes  the  extremes  of  sterility  in  its  immediate 
vicinity. ' ' 

This  was  named  Mclntyre's  Brook,  and  Cunningham 
writes  that  they  had  some  difficulty  in  fording  it  on 
account  of  its  extreme  rapidity.  The  party  continued 
on,  now  in  a  north-easterly  direction,  passing  again 
through  dense  thickets  such  as  they  had  formerly  met 
with. 

On  the  5th  of  June,  Cunningham,  from  a  small 
elevation,  had  a  view  of  open  country  of  decidedly 
favourable  appearance: — "A  hollow  in  the  forest  ridge 
immediately  before  us  allowed  me  distinctly  to  perceive 
that  at  a  distance  of  eight  or  nine  miles,  open  plains 
or  downs  of  great  extent  appeared  to  extend  easterly 
to  the  base  of  a  lofty  range  of  mountains,  lying  south 
and  north,  distant  by  estimation  about  thirty  miles. ' ' 

This  was  Cunningham's  first  glimpse  of  the  now  world- 
famous  Darling  Downs.  On  reaching  the  commencement 
of  the  great  plains,  they  came  to  the  "bank  of  a  small 
river,  about  fifteen  yards  in  breadth,  having  a  brisk 
ourrent  to  the  N.W."  As  there  was  deep  water  in  the 
pools  of  this  river,  the  men  anticipated  some  good  fishing, 
.and  they  were  not  disappointed.  Cunningham  named  this 
river  the  Condamine. 

Although  their  provisions  were  failing  them, 
Cunningham  remained  for  some  time  on  the  site  of  his 
new  discovery,  fully  impressed  with  the  certainty  of  its 
immense  importance  in  the  future  settlement  of  Aus- 
tralia. Peel's  Plains  and  Canning  Downs  were  named 
by  him,  and  to  the  north-west  "beyond  Peel's  Plains  an 
immeasurable  extent  of  flat  country  met  the  eye,  on  which 
not  the  slightest  eminence  could  be  observed  to  interrupt 
ihe  common  level,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  verv  clear 


56  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

state  of  the  atmosphere,  could  be  discerned  to  a  very 
distant  blue  line  of  horizon." 

Cunningham's  far-seeing  mind  fathomed  the  future 
requirements  of  such  a  vast  agricultural  and  pastoral 
extent  of  country,  and  he  at  once  turned  his  attention 
to  its  natural  means  of  communication  with  its  obvious 
port,  Moreton  Bay.  A  lofty  range  of  mountains  to  the 
east  and  north-east  seemed  to  offer  a  difficult  barrier, 
and  he  determined  upon  making  a  closer  inspection.  As 
his  horses  were  recruiting  all  the  time  on  the  luxuriant 
herbage,  he  did  not  so  much  regret  their  own  scarcity 
of  rations.  Finding  a  beautiful  grassy  valley  which  he 
named  Logan  Vale,  after  Captain  Logan,  the  well-known 
commandant  of  Moreton  Bay,  leading  to  the  base  of  the 
principal  range,  he  proceeded  to  make  a  nearer  inspection. 
After  much  climbing  of  successive  tiers  or  ridges,  he 
gained  the  loftiest  point  of  a  main  spur,  and  through 
some  gaps  in  the  main  range  itself,  he  was  able  to  over- 
look portions  of  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  Moreton 
Bay,  and  even  to  recognise  the  cone  of  Mount  Warning. 
He  took  particular  notice  of  one  gap,  and  on  closer 
inspection  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  line  of  road 
could  be  constructed  without  much  difficulty. 

Having  spent  a  week  on  the  Downs,  and  his  shortness 
of  provisions  and  the  weakness  of  his  horses  preventing 
any  excursion  to  the  western  interior,  as  his  intention  had 
been,  he  set  out  on  his  homeward  journey  on  the  18th 
of  June.  In  order  to  render  his  chart  of  the  country 
traversed  as  complete  as  possible,  he  kept  a  course  about 
equidistant  between  the  route  of  his  outward  journey 
and  the  coastal  watershed.  He  reached  Segenhoe  on 
the  28th  of  July,  bringing  his  men  and  horses  back  in 
safety,  after  one  of  the  most  successful  and  important 
expeditions  on  the  east  coast. 

In  the  following  year,  accompanied  by  his  old 
companion  Fraser,  who  had  been  one  of  Oxley's  party 
on  his  two  inland  expeditions,  Cunningham  proceeded 
by  sea  to  Moreton  Bay,  with  the  intention  of  starting 
from  the  settlement,  identifying  the  gap  he  had  taken 
particular  notice  of,  and  connecting  with  his  former  camp 


ALLAN    CUNNINGHAM 


57 


Memorial  to  Allan  Cunningham,  Botanical  Gardens,  Sydney. 


58  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

•on  the  Downs.  In  this  attempt  he  was  also  accompanied 
by  Captain  Logan,  but  they  were  unsuccessful.  Then 
Cunningham  again  went  from  the  outpost  of  Limestone, 
with  three  men  and  two  bullocks,  and  was  completely 
:satisfied.  A  road  through  this  gap  on  to  the  Darling 
Downs  was  immediately  constructed,  and  used  until  the 
introduction  of  railway  communication:  the  opening  was 
known  far  and  wide  as  Cunningham's  Gap. 

In  May,  1830,  Cunningham  went  to  Norfolk  Island. 
While  there  he  crossed  to  the  little  islet  adjoining,  known 
as  Phillip  Island.  Having  landed  with  three  men,  he 
sent  the  boat  back.  That  night  eleven  convicts  escaped, 
seized  the  boat,  and  were  launching  her  when  they  were 
challenged  by  a  sentry.  One  of  them  replied  that  they 
were  going  for  Mr.  Cunningham,  and  they  got  away 
i;hough  they  were  fired  upon.  They  did  go  for  Mr. 
Cunningham,  and  robbed  him  of  his  chronometer,  pistols, 
tent,  and  provisions.  Then  they  sailed  away,  and  were 
picked  up  by  a  whaler,  which  they  seized  and  finally 
scuttled.  The  Government  refused  to  compensate 
Cunningham  for  his  loss,  and  he  had  to  replace  the 
instruments  himself. 

Cunningham  left  Sydney  on  the  25th  of  February, 
1831,  on  a  visit  to  London,  where  he  spent  nearly  two 
years  at  Kew,  returning  to  Sydney  on  the  12  th  of 
February,  1837.  He  was  appointed  Colonial  Botanist 
and  Superintendent  of  the  Botanic  Gardens,  but  did  not 
retain  the  position  very  long,  being  disgusted  to  find  that 
■supplying  Government  officials  with  vegetables  was  to  be 
a  chief  part  of  his  duties.  He  resigned,  and  after  another 
visit  to  New  Zealand,  whence  he  returned  in  1838,  so  ill 
"was  he  that  he  was  compelled  to  decline  to  accompany 
Captain  Wickham  on  his  survey  of  the  north-west  coast. 
He  died  of  consumption  on  the  24th  of  January,  1839, 
at  the  cottage  in  the  Botanic  Gardens,  whither  he  had 
l)een  removed  for  change  of  air  and  scene.  He  was 
buried  in  the  Devonshire  Street  cemetery,  and  on  the  25th 
of  May,  1901,  his  remains  were  removed  to  the  obelisk 
in  the  Botanic  Gardens. 


Chapter  VI. 
CHARLES  STUET. 


(i.) — Early  Life. 

Charles  Sturt  was  born  in  India  at  Chunar-Ghur,  on 
April  the  28th,  1795.  His  father,  Thomas  Lennox  Napier 
Sturt,  was  a  puisne  Judge  in  Bengal  under  the  East 
India  Company;  his  mother  was  Jeanette  Wilson.  The 
Sturts  were  an  old  Dorsetshire  family.  In  1799,  Charles, 
as  was  common  with  most  Anglo-Indian  children,  was 
sent  home  to  England,  to  the  care  of  his  aunts,  Mrs. 
Wood  and  Miss  Wilson,  at  Newton  Hall,  Middlewich.  He 
went  first  to  a  private  school  at  Astbury,  and  in  1810 
w^as  sent  to  Harrow.  On  the  9th  of  September,  1813,  he 
was  gazetted  as  Ensign  in  the  39th  Regiment  of  Foot. 
He  served  with  his  regiment  in  the  Pyrenees,  and  in  a 
desultory  campaign  in  Canada.  When  Napoleon  escaped 
from  Elba,  the  39th  returned  to  Europe,  but  all  too  late 
to  join  in  the  victory  of  Waterloo,  and  it  was  stationed 
with  the  Army  of  Occupation  in  the  north  of  France. 
In  1818,  the  regiment  was  sent  to  Ireland.  Here  for 
several  years  Sturt  remained  in  most  uncongenial 
surroundings,  watching  smugglers,  seizing  illicit  stills, 
and  assisting  to  quell  a  rising  of  the  Whiteboys.  It  was 
in  Ireland  that  the  devoted  John  Harris,  his  soldier- 
servant,  who  was  afterwards  the  companion  of  his 
Australian  wanderings,  was  first  attached  to  him.  In 
1823,  Sturt  was  gazetted  Lieutenant,  and  his  promotion 
to  Captain  followed  in  1825. 

In  December,  1826,  he  sailed  for  New  South  Wales 
with  a  detachment  of  his  regiment,  in  charge  of  convicts. 
The  moment  he  set  foot  on  this  vast  unknown  land,  its 
■chief  geographical  enigma  at  once  occupied  his  attention. 

69 


60  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Sir  Ealph  Darling,  to  whom  he  acted  for  some  time  as 
private  secretary,  formed  a  high  opinion  of  his  tact  and 
ability,  and  appointed  him  Major  of  Brigade  and  Military 
Secretary. 

(ii.) — The  Darling. 

As  soon  as  an  expedition  inland  was  mooted,  Sturt 
volunteered  for  the  leadership,  and  was  recommended 
by  Oxley,  who  was  then  on  his  deathbed.  The  recom- 
mendation was  adopted  by  Governor  Darling,  and  Sturt 
embarked  on  the  career  of  exploration  that  was  to  render 
his  name  immortal. 

It  was  ever  Sturt 's  misfortune  to  be  the  sport  of  the 
seasons ;  drought  and  its  attendant  desolation  dogged  his 
footsteps  like  an  evil  genius.  Oxley  had  followed,  or 
attempted  to  follow,  the  rivers  down  when  a  long  period 
of  recurrent  wet  seasons  had  saturated  the  soil,  filled 
the  swamps  and  marshes,  and  swollen  the  river-courses 
so  that  they  appeared  to  be  navigable  throughout  for 
boats.  Sturt  came  at  a  period  when  the  country  lay 
faint  under  a  prolonged  drought  and  the  rivers  had 
dwindled  down  into  dry  channels,  with  here  and  there 
a  parched  and  meagre  water-hole.  The  following 
description  of  his  is  too  often  quoted  as  depicting  the 
usual  state  of  the  Australian  interior : — 

*'In  the  creeks,  weeds  had  grown  and  withered,  and 
grown  again ;  and  young  saplings  were  now  rising  in  their 
beds,  nourished  by  the  moisture  that  still  remained;  but 
the  large  forest  trees  were  drooping,  and  many  were 
dead.  The  emus  with  outstretched  necks,  gasping  for 
breath,  searched  the  channels  of  the  rivers  for  water  in 
vain;  and  the  native  dog,  so  thin  that  he  could  hardly 
walk,  seemed  to  implore  some  merciful  hand  to  despatch 
him." 

To  Sturt  and  his  companions,  who  were  the  first  white 
men  to  face  the  interior  during  a  season  of  drought,  the 
scene  may  not  have  seemed  too  highly-coloured;  but,  in 
common  with  many  of  Sturt 's  graphic  word-pictures,  his 
description  applies  only  to  special  or  rare  circumstances. 


CHAKLES    STURT 


611^ 


62  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

In  1828,  no  rain  had  fallen  for  two  years,  and  even 
the  dwellers  on  the  coastal  lands  began  to  despair  of 
copious  rainfalls.  Whenever  their  glance  wandered  over 
their  own  dried-np  pastures,  men's  thoughts  naturally 
turned  to  that  widespread  and  boundless  swamp  wherein 
the  Macquarie  was  lost  to  Oxley's  quest;  and  many  saw 
in  the  drought  a  favourable  opportunity  to  discover  the 
ultimate  destination  of  these  lost  rivers.  An  expedition 
to  the  west  was  accordingly  prepared  in  order  to  solve 
the  problem  under  these  very  different  existing  circum- 
stances, and  Sturt  was  selected  as  leader.  To  Hamilton 
Hume  was  offered  the  position  of  second  in  command, 
and,  as  the  dry  weather  had  brought  all  farming  oper- 
ations to  a  standstill,  he  was  able  to  accept  it.  Besides 
Sturt  and  Hume,  the  party  consisted  of  two  soldiers  and 
eight  prisoners,  two  of  the  latter  being  taken  to  return 
with  despatches  as  soon  as  they  had  reached  the  limit 
of  the  known  country.  They  also  had  with  them  eight 
riding  and  seven  pack-horses,  and  two  draught  and 
eight  pack-bullocks.  A  small  boat  rigged  up  on  a  wheeled 
carriage  was  also  taken ;  but  like  many  others  carried  into 
the  interior,  it  never  served  any  useful  purpose. 

The  country  was  by  this  time  well-known,  and  partly 
settled  up  to  and  below  Wellington  Vale ;  but  when  Sturt 
reached  Mt.  Harris,  Oxley's  former  depot  camp,  he  had 
come  to  the  verge  of  the  unknown,  and  halted  in  order 
to  consider  as  to  his  immediate  movements.  He  consulted 
with  Hume,  and  as  there  seemed  to  be  no  present  obstacle 
to  their  progress,  it  was  determined,  as  Sturt  writes, 
^^0  close  with  the  marshes." 

This  they  did  much  sooner  than  was  expected,  for  at 
the  end  of  the  first  day's  march  their  camp  was  set  in 
the  very  midst  of  the  reeds.  A  halt  for  a  couple  of 
days  was  made,  whilst  Sturt  prepared  his  despatches  to 
the  Governor.  On  the  26th,  the  two  messengers  were  sent 
off  to  Bathurst,  and  the  progress  of  the  party  was 
resumed.  Before  the  day  closed,  they  found  themselves 
on  a  dreary  expanse  of  flats  and  of  desolate  reed  beds. 
The  progress  of  the  main  body  was  thus  suddenly  and 
completely  checked,  and  Sturt  decided  to  launch  the  boat 


CHARLES    STURT  6^ 

and  with  two  men  endeavour  to  trace  the  course  of  the- 
river,  while  Hume  and  two  others  endeavoured  to  find  an 
opening  to  the  northward. 

The  boat  voyage  soon  terminated,  for  Sturt  was  as- 
completely  baffled  as  Oxley  had  been.  The  channel  ceased 
altogether,  and  the  boat  quietly  grounded.  Sturt  could 
do  nothing  but  return  to  camp  and  await  Hume's  report. 
All  search  for  the  lost  river  proved  vain. 

Hume  had  found  a  serpentine  sheet  of  water  to  the- 
north  which  he  was  inclined  to  think  was  the  continuation 
of  the  elusive  Macquarie.  He  had  pushed  on  past  it, 
but  had  been  checked  by  another  body  of  reed  beds.. 
It  was  decided  to  shift  camp  to  this  lagoon  and  launch 
the  boat  once  more ;  but  without  result,  for  the  boat  was 
hauled  ashore  again  after  having  vainly  followed  the 
supposed  channel  in  amongst  reeds  and  shallows.  Again 
the  leader  and  his  second  went  forward  on  a  scouting 
trip.  Each  took  with  them  two  men;  Sturt  going  to 
the  north-west,  and  Hume  to  the  north-east.  They  left 
on  the  last  day  of  December,  1828. 

Sturt  toiled  on  until  after  sunset  he  came  to  a 
northward-flowing  creek,  in  which  there  was  a  fair  supply 
of  water.  Next  day  their  course  lay  through  plains  inter- 
sected with  belts  of  scrub,  and  they  discovered  another 
creek,  inferior  to  the  last  one  both  in  size  and  the  quality^ 
of  the  water.  They  camped  for  a^  few  hours  on  its  bank, 
and  Sturt  called  it  New  Year's  Creek,  but  it  is  now  known 
as  the  Bogan  Eiver.  They  were  about  to  pass  that  night 
without  water  on  the  edge  of  a  dry  plain,  when  one  of 
the  men  had  his  attention  drawn  to  the  flight  of  a 
pigeon,  and  searching,  found  a  puddle  of  rain  water 
which  barel}^  satisfied  them.  An  isolated  hill  with  perpen- 
dicular sides,  which  Sturt  had  noticed  for  some  time, 
now  attracted  his  attention,  as  being  a  lofty  point  of 
vantage  from  which  to  get  an  extensive  view  to  the  west. 
They  accordingly  made  for  it,  over  more  promising 
country.  They  reached  the  hill  which  Sturt  called  Oxley 's 
Tableland,  but  from  its  summit  he  saw  nothing  but  a 
stretch  of  monotonous  plain,  with  no  sign  of  the  long- 
sought  river.    That  night  they  camped  at  a  small  swamp,. 


'64  EXPLORERS   OF   AUSTRALIA 

and  the  next  morning  turned  back,  Sturt  agreeing  with 
'Oxley,  but  without  as  much  reason,  that  **the  space  I 
traversed  is  unlikely  to  become  the  haunt  of  civilised 
man."  Hume  did  not  return  until  the  day  after  Sturt 's 
arrival.  He  reported  that  the  Castlereagh  Eiver  must 
liave  suddenly  turned  to  the  north  below  where  Oxley 
•crossed  it,  for  he  had  been  Unable  to  find  it.  He  had 
■gone  westward,  but  had  seen  nothing  except  far- 
stretching  plains.  After  a  few  aimless  and  unprofitable 
ramblings,  they  made  their  way  again  to  Oxley 's  Table- 
land, and  Sturt  and  Hume,  with  two  men,  made  a  journey 
to  the  west,  with  only  a  negative  result.  On  the  31st  of 
January  they  commenced  to  follow  down  Sturt 's  New 
Year's  Creek,  and  the  next  day,  to  their  unbounded 
-surprise,  came  upon  the  bank  of  a  noble  river.  From  its 
size  and  width  they  judged  they  had  struck  it  at  a  point 
as  far  from  its  source  as  from  its  termination ;  but  when 
ihe  men  rushed  tumultuously  down  the  bank  to  revel  in 
the  water  and  quench  their  thirst,  they  cried  out,  with 
•disgust  and  surprise,  that  the  water  was  salt. 

Poor  Sturt,  whose  heart  was  bounding  with  joy  at  the 
Tealisation  of  his  fondest  hopes  in  this  important 
•discovery  of  a  river  which  seemed  to  answer  all  men's 
■dreams  and  anticipations,  felt  the  sudden  revulsion  of 
despair.  One  saving  thought  he  had,  and  that  was  that 
they  were  close  to  its  junction  with  the  inland  sea.  Mean- 
time, although  human  tracks  were  to  be  seen  everywhere, 
ihey  saw  none  of  the  aborigines.  Hume  at  length  found 
a  pool  of  fresh  water,  which  provided  them  with  water 
for  themselves  and  their  stock. 

The  long-continued  absence  of  rain  having  lowered  the 
fresh  water  so  that  the  supply  from  the  brine  springs 
on  the  banks  predominated,  was  the  explanation  of  the 
«altness  of  the  water ;  but  Sturt  did  not  know  this,  and  for 
six  days  the  party  moved  slowly  down  the  river  until 
the  discovery  of  saline  springs  in  the  bank  convinced 
the  leader  that  the  saltness  was  of  local  origin.  Still 
that  did  not  supply  them  with  the  necessary  drinking 
water,  and  on  the  sixth  day,  leaving  the  men  encamped 
at  a  small  sujDply  of  fresh  water,  Sturt  and  Hume  pushed 


CHARLES    STURT 


65 


66  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

on  to  look  for  more,  but  in  vain,  and  Sturt  was  compelled 
to  order  a  retreat  to  Mt.  Harris. 

This  shows  how  the  exploration  of  the  continent  has 
ever  been  conditioned  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  seasons. 
Had  Sturt  found  the  Darling  in  a  normal  season,  he  would 
probably  have  followed  it  down  to  its  junction  with  the 
Murray,  and  the  geographical  system  of  the  east  would 
have  been  at  once  laid  bare.  But  it  was  not  in  such  a 
simple  manner  that  the  great  river  basin  was  to  become 
known.  Toil,  privation,  and  the  sacrifice  of  human  lives, 
had  first  to  be  suffered. 

To  the  river  which  he  had  found  Sturt  gave  the 
name  Darling,  in  honour  of  the  Governor. 

The  return  journey  to  Mt.  Harris  continued  without 
interruption.  At  Mt.  Harris  they  expected  to  find  fresh 
supplies ;  but  as  they  approached  the  place  they  could  not 
restrain  fears  with  regard  to  their  safety.  The 
surrounding  reed  beds  were  in  flames  in  all  parts.  The 
few  natives  that  were  met  with  displayed  a  guilty 
timidity,  and  one  was  observed  wearing  a  jacket. 
Fortunately,  however,  their  fears  were  groundless;  the 
relief  party  had  arrived  and  had  been  awaiting  their 
return  for  about  three  weeks.  An  attack  by  the  natives 
had  been  made,  but  it  had  been  easily  repulsed.  While 
Sturt  rested  at  Mt.  Harris,  Hume  struck  off  to  the  west, 
beyond  the  reeds.  He  reported  the  country  as  superior 
for  thirty  miles  to  any  they  had  yet  seen,  but  beyond  that 
limit  lay  brushwood  and  monotonous  plains. 

On  the  7th  of  March  the  party  struck  camp  and 
departed  for  the  Castlereagh  Eiver.  They  found  that 
the  flooded  stream,  impassable  by  Oxley,  had  totally 
disappeared.  Not  a  drop  of  water  lay  in  the  bed  of  the 
river.  They  commenced  to  follow  its  course  down,  and 
the  old  harassing  hunt  for  water  had  to  be  conducted 
anew.  No  wonder  that  Sturt  could  never  free  himself 
from  the  memory  of  his  fiery  baptism  as  Australian 
explorer,  and  that  his  mental  picture  of  the  country  was 
ever  shrouded  in  the  haze  of  drought  and  heat. 

As  they  descended  the  Castlereagh  into  the  level  lower 
country,  they  were  greatly  delayed  by  the  many  intricate 


CHAELES    STUET  67 

windings  of  the  river  and  its  multiplicity  of  channels. 
On  the  29th  of  March  they  again  reached  the  Darling, 
ninety  miles  above  the  place  where  they  had  first  come 
upon  it,  and  they  observed  the  same  characteristics  as 
before,  including  the  saltness.  This  was  a  blow  to  Sturt, 
who  had  hoped  to  find  it  free  from  salinity.  Fortunately 
they  were  not  distressed  for  fresh  water  at  the  time, 
and  knowing  what  to  expect  if  the  river  was  followed 
down  again,  the  party  halted  and  formed  a  camp. 

The  next  day  Sturt,  Hume,  and  two  men  crossed  the 
river  and  made  a  short  journey  of  investigation  to  the 
west,  to  see  what  fortune  held  for  them  further  afield. 
Not  having  passed  during  the  day  ''a  drop  of  water 
or  a  blade  of  grass,"  they  found  themselves  by  mid- 
afternoon  on  a  wide  plain  that  stretched  far  away  to  the 
horizon.  Sturt  writes  that  had  there  been  the  slightest 
encouragement  afforded  by  any  change  in  the  country, 
he  would  even  then  have  pushed  forward,  ''but  we  had 
left  all  traces  of  the  natives  behind  us,  and  this  seemed  a 
desert  they  never  entered — that  not  even  a  bird 
inhabited. ' ' 

Back  to  Mt.  Harris  once  more,  where  they  arrived  on 
the  7th  of  April,  1829.  On  their  way  they  had  stopped  to 
follow  a  depression  first  noticed  by  Hume,  and  decided 
that  it  was  the  channel  of  the  overflow  of  the  Macquarie 
Marshes. 

(iii.) — The  Passage  op  the  Mueray. 

The  mystery  of  the  Macquarie  was  now,  to  a  certain 
extent,  cleared  away,  but  the  course  and  final  outlet  of 
the  Darling  now  presented  another  riddle,  which  Sturt 
too  was  destined  to  solve. 

The  discovery  of  such  a  large  river  as  the  Darling, 
augmented  by  the  Macquarie  and  Castlereagh,  and  (so 
people  then  thought)  in  all  probability  the  Lachlan, 
naturally  inflamed  public  curiosity  as  to  the  position  of 
the  outlet  on  the  Australian  coast.  All  the  rivers  that 
had  been  tried  as  guides  to  the  hidden  interior  having 
failed  to  answer  the  purpose,  the  Murrumbidgee — the 


68  EXPLORERS    OF   AUSTRALIA 

beautiful  river  of  the  aboriginals — was  selected  as  the 
scene  of  the  next  attempt.  There  were  good  reasons  for 
the  choice :  it  derived  its  volume  from  the  highest  known 
mountains,  snow-capped  peaks  in  fact,  that  reminded  the 
spectator  of  far  northern  latitudes,  and  thus  it  was  to  a 
great  extent  independent  of  the  variable  local  rainfall. 

Captain  Sturt  was  naturally  selected  to  be  the  leader 
of  the  Murrumbidgee  expedition,  and  with  him  as  second 
went  George  MacLeay,  the  son  of  the  then  Colonial 
Secretary.  Harris,  who  had  been  Sturt 's  soldier-servant 
for  nearly  eighteen  years,  and  two  other  men  of  the  39th, 
who  had  been  with  their  Captain  on  the  Macquarie 
expedition,  also  accompanied  him,  with  a  very  complete 
and  well-furnished  party,  including  the  usual  boat  rigged 
up  on  a  carriage.  This  time,  however,  unlike  the  craft  that 
had  accompanied  previous  exploring  parties,  the  whale- 
boat  was  destined  to  be  immortalised  in  Australian 
history. 

Settlement  had  by  this  time  extended  well  up  to  and 
down  the  banks  of  the  Murrumbidgee,  and  Sturt  took  his 
departure  from  the  borders  of  civilisation  about  where 
the  town  of  Gundagai  now  stands,  almost  at  the  junction 
of  the  Tumut  River,  at  Whaby's  station.  The  course  for 
some  time  lay  along  the  rich  river-flats  of  the  Murrum- 
bidgee. The  blacks,  who  of  course  from  their  position 
were  familiar  with  the  presence  of  white  men,  maintained 
a  friendly  demeanour.  One  slight  excursion  to  the  north 
was  made  to  connect  with  Oxley's  furthest  south,  made 
when  on  his  Lachlan  expedition ;  but  though  they  did  not 
actually  verify  the  spot,  Sturt  reckoned  that  he  went 
within  twenty  miles  of  it,  showing  how  narrowly  that 
explorer  had  missed  the  discovery  of  the  Murrumbidgee. 

As  they  got  lower  down  the  river  they  found  them- 
selves travelling  through  the  flat  desolate  country  that 
reminded  them  only  too  forcibly  of  late  experiences  on 
the  Macquarie.  Owing  to  some  information  gleaned 
from  the  natives,  Sturt  and  MacLeay  rode  north  to  try 
and  again  come  upon  the  Lachlan.  They  struck  a  dry 
channel,  which  Sturt  believed  was  the  drainage  from  the 
Lachlan  into   the   Murrumbidgee.     This   proved   to   be 


CHAHLES    STURT  69 

correct,  as  natives  afterwards  testified  that  they  had 
seen  the  two  white  men  actually  on  the  Lachlan, 

On  the  25th,  which  was  an  intensely  hot  day,  MacLeay, 
who  was  on  ahead,  found  himself  suddenly  confronted 
with  a  boundless  sea  of  reeds,  and  the  river  itself  had 
suddenly  vanished.  He  sent  a  mounted  messenger  back 
to  Sturt  with  these  disastrous  tidings.  Sturt  thereupon 
turned  the  draj^s,  which  were  already  in  difficulties  in 
the  loose  soil,  sharp  round  to  the  right,  and  finally  came 
to  the  river  again,  where  they  camped  to  discuss  the 
untoward  circumstance. 

At  daylight  the  next  morning,  Sturt  and  MacLeay  rode 
along  its  bank,  whilst  Clayton,  the  carpenter,  was  set  to 
work  felling  a  tree  and  digging  a  sawpit.  Progress  along 
the  bank  with  the  whole  party  was  evidently  impossible. 
Sturt,  however,  had  faith  in  the  continuity  of  the  river, 
and  announced  to  MacLeay  his  intention  to  send  back 
most  of  the  expedition,  and  with  a  picked  crew  to  embark 
in  the  whaleboat,  committing  their  desperate  fortunes 
to  the  stream,  and  trusting  to  make  the  coast  somewhere, 
and  leaving  their  return  in  the  hands  of  Providence. 

The  more  one  regards  this  heroic  venture,  the  more 
sublime  does  it  appear.  The  whole  of  the  interior  was 
then  a  sealed  book,  and  the  river,  for  aught  Sturt  knew, 
might  flow  throughout  the  length  of  the  continent.  But 
the  voyage  was  commenced  with  cool  and  calm  confidence. 

In  a  week  the  whaleboat  was  put  together,  and  a  small 
skiff  also  built.  Six  hands  were  selected  for  the  crew, 
and  the  remainder,  after  waiting  one  week  in  case  of 
accident,  were  to  return  to  Goulburn  Plains  and  there 
await  events.  It  would  be  as  well  to  embody  here  the 
names  of  this  band.  John  Harris,  Hopkinson,  and  Fraser 
were  the  soldiers  chosen,  and  Clayton,  Mulholland,  and 
Macmanee  the  prisoners.  The  start  was  made  at  seven 
on  the  morning  of  January  7th,  the  whale-boat  towing 
the  small  skiff.  Within  about  fifteen  miles  of  the  point 
of  embarkation  they  passed  the  junction  of  the  Lachlan, 
and  that  night  camped  amongst  a  thicket  of  reeds.  The 
next  day  the  skiff  fouled  a  log  and  sank,  and  though 
it  was  raised  to  the  surface  and  most  of  the  contents 


70  EXPLOKERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

recovered,  the  bulk  of  them  was  much  damaged.  Fallen 
and  sunken  logs  greatly  endangered  their  progress,  but 
on  the  14th  they  ''were  hurried  into  a  broad  and  noble 
river."  Such  was  the  force  with  which  they  were  shot 
out  of  the  Murrumbidgee  that  they  were  carried  nearly 
to  the  opposite  bank  of  the  new  and  ample  stream. 
Sturt's  feelings  at  that  moment  were  to  be  envied,  and 
for  once  in  a  life  chequered  with  much  disappointment 
he  must  have  felt  that  a  great  reward  was  granted  to 
him  in  this  crowning  discovery.  He  named  the  new  river 
the  Murray,  after  Sir  George  Murray,  the  head  of  the 
Colonial  Department.  As  some  controversy  has  of  late 
arisen  as  to  the  question  of  Sturt's  right  to  confer  the 
name,  we  here  quote  his  own  words,  written  after 
surveying  the  Hume  in  1838. 

''When  I  named  the  Murray  I  was  in  a  great  measure 
ignorant  of  the  other  rivers  with  which  it  is  connected. 
.  .  .  I  want  not  to  usurp  an  inch  of  ground  or  of 
water  over  which  I  have  not  passed." 

On  the  bosom  of  the  Murray  they  could  now  make  use 
of  their  sail,  which  the  contracted  space  in  the  bed  of 
the  Murrumbidgee  had  before  prevented  them  from 
doing.  The  aborigines  were  seen  nearly  every  day,  and 
once  when  the  voyagers  had  to  negotiate  a  very  ticklish 
rapid,  some  of  them  approached  quite  close,  and  seemed 
to  take  great  interest  in  the  proceedings. 

Sturt's  thoughts  now  turned  towards  the  junction  of 
the  Darling,  and  at  last  he  sighted  a  deserted  camp  on 
which  the  huts  resembled  those  he  had  seen  on  that  river. 
On  the  23rd  of  January  they  came  upon  the  junction  at 
a  very  critical  moment.  A  line  of  magnificently-foliaged 
trees  came  into  view,  among  which  was  perceived  a 
large  gathering  of  blacks,  who  apparently  were  inclined 
to  be  hostile.  Sturt,  who  was  at  the  helm,  was  steering 
straight  for  them  and  made  the  customary  signs  of  peace. 
Just  before  it  was  too  late  to  avoid  a  collision, 
Sturt  marked  hostility  in  their  quivering  limbs  and 
battle-lusting  eyes.  He  instantly  put  the  helm 
a-starboard,  and  the  boat  sheered  down  the  reach,  the 
baffled  natives  running  and  yelling  defiantly  along  the 


CHAELES    STURT  71 

bank.  The  river,  however,  was  shoaling  rapidly,  and 
from  the  opposite  side  there  projected  a  sand-spit;  on 
each  side  of  this  narrow  passage  infuriated  blacks  had 
gathered,  and  there  was  no  mistaking  their  intentions. 
Sturt  gave  orders  to  his  men  as  to  their  behaviour,  and 
held  himself  ready  to  give  the  battle-signal  by  shooting 
the  most  active  and  forward  of  their  adversaries. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  a  small  party  of  blacks  who 
had  been  interested  in  the  shooting  of  a  rapid  by  the 
boat's  crew.  Four  of  these  savages  had  camped  with  the 
explorers  the  preceding  night,  leaving  at  daylight  in  the 
morning.     Sturt  imagined  that  they  had  gone  ahead  as 


Junction  of  the  Darling  and  Murray  Rivers. 

peace  delegates,  and  he  was  thus  most  anxious  to  avoid 
a  fight.  But  the  life  of  the  whole  party  depended  on 
prompt  action  being  taken,  and  Sturt 's  eye  was  on  the 
leader  and  ^is  finger  on  the  trigger  when  ''my  purpose," 
he  says  "was  checked  by  MacLeay,  who  called  to  me 
that  another  party  of  blacks  had  made  their  appearance 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  Turning  round,  I  observed 
four  men  at  the  top  of  their  speed."  These  were  the 
dusky  delegates,  and  the  description  given  by  Sturt  of 
the  conduct  of  the  man  who  saved  the  situation  is  very 
graphic : — 

''The  foremost  of  them,  as  soon  as  he  got  ahead  of 
the  boat,  threw  himself  from  a  considerable  height  into 
the  water.  He  struggled  across  the  channel  to  the  sand- 
bank, and  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time  stood  in 


72  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

front  of  the  savage  against  whom  mj'  aim  had  been 
directed.  Seizing  him  by  the  throat,  he  pushed  him 
backwards,  and  forcing  all  who  were  in  the  water  on  the 
bank,  he  trod  its  margin  with  a  vehemence  and  an 
agitation  that  was  exceedingly  striking.  At  one  moment 
pointing  to  the  boat,  at  another  shaking  his  clenched  hand 
in  the  faces  of  the  most  forward,  and  stamping  with 
passion  on  the  sand,  his  voice,  that  was  at  first  distinct, 
was  lost  in  hoarse  murmurs." 

This  episode,  unequalled  in  the  traditions  of  the 
Australian  aborigines,  removed  the  imminent  danger; 
and  Sturt  's  tact,  in  a  few  moments  changed  the  hundreds 
of  demented  demons  into  a  pack  of  laughing,  curious 
children,  an  easy  and  common  transition  with  the  savage 
nature.  But  for  the  intervention  of  this  noble  chief, 
Sturt  and  his  followers,  penned  within  the  boat  in  shallow 
water,  would  have  been  massacred  without  a  chance  to 
defend  themselves.  Surrounded  as  they  were  by  six 
hundred  stalwart  foes,  their  fate,  save  from  unreliable 
native  tradition,  would  never  have  been  known  to  their 
countrymen. 

During  the  crisis,  the  boat  had  drifted  untended,  and 
grounded  on  the  sand.  While  the  men  were  hastily 
pushing  her  off,  they  caught  sight  of  "a  new  and 
beautiful  stream  coming  apparently  from  the  north." 
A  crowd  of  natives  were  assembled  on  the  bank  of  the 
new  river,  and  Sturt  pulled  across  to  them,  thus  creating 
a  diversion  amongst  his  erstwhile  foes,  who  swam  after, 
as  he  says,  ''like  a  parcel  of  seals." 

After  presenting  the  friendly  native  with  some 
acknowledgment  and  refusing  presents  to  the  others,  the 
pioneers  examined  the  new  river.  The  banks  were 
sloping  and  well-grassed,  crowned  with  fine  trees,  and  the 
men  cried  out  that  they  had  got  on  to  an  English  river. 
To  Sturt  himself  the  moment  was  supreme.  He  was 
convinced  "that  we  were  now  sailing  on  the  bosom  of 
that  very  stream  from  whose  banks  I  had  been  twice 
forced  to  retire."  They  did  not  pull  far  up  the  stream, 
for  a  native  fishing-net  was  stretched  across,  and  Sturt 
forbore  to  break  it.     The  Union  Jack  was,  however,  run 


CHAELES    STUKT  75 

up  to  the  peak  and  saluted  with  three  cheers,  and  then 
with  a  favouring  wind  they  bade  farewell  to  the  Darling- 
and  the  now  wonderstruck  natives. 

As  they  went  on,  the  party  landed  occasionally  to- 
inspect  the  surrounding  country,  but  on  all  sides  from 
their  low  elevation  they  could  see  nothing  but  a  boundless 
flat.  The  skiff  being  now  only  a  drag  upon  them,  it  was- 
broken  up  and  burnt  for  the  sake  of  the  ironwork.  On 
account  of  the  damage  to  the  salt  pork  caused  by  the- 
sinking  of  this  boat,  the  strictest  economy  of  diet  had 
to  be  exercised,  and  though  an  abundance  of  fish  was- 
caught,  they  had  become  unattractive  to  their  palates. 
The  continuation  of  the  voyage  down  the  course  of  the- 
Murray  was  henceforth  a  monotonous  repetition  of 
severe  daily  toil  at  the  oar.  The  natives  whom  they 
encountered,  though  friendly,  became  a  nuisance  from  the- 
constant  handling  and  embracing  that  the  voyagers  had^ 
from  purposes  of  policy,  to  suffer  unchecked.  The  tribes 
met  with  were  more  than  ordinarily  filthy,  and  were 
disfigured  by  loathsome  skin  diseases.  After  twenty- 
one  days  on  the  water,  Sturt  began  to  look  most  anxiously 
for  indications  of  the  sea,  for  his  men  were  fagging  with 
the  unremitting  labour  and  short  rations,  and  they  had 
only  the  strength  of  their  own  arms  to  rely  on  for  their 
return  against  the  current.  Soon,  however,  an  old  man 
amongst  the  natives  described  the  roaring  of  the  waves, 
and  showed  by  other  signs  that  he  had  been  to  the  sea 
coast.  But  more  welcome  than  all  were  some  flocks  of 
sea-gulls  that  flew  over  and  welcomed  the  tired  men. 

On  the  thirty-third  day  after  leaving  the  starting- 
point  on  the  Murrumbidgee,  Sturt,  on  landing  to  inspect 
the  country,  saw  before  him  the  lake  which  was  indeed 
the  termination  of  the  Murray,  but  not  the  end  that  he 
had  dreamt  of.  ''For  the  lake  was  evidently  so  little 
influenced  by  tides  that  I  saw  at  once  our  probable 
disappointment  of  practical  communication  between  it 
and  the  ocean." 

This  foreboding  was  realised  after  examination  of 
Lake  Alexandrina,  as  it  is  now  called.  Upon  ascertaining 
their  exact  position  on  the  southern  coast,  nothing  was- 


74  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

left  but  to  take  up  the  weary  labours  of  their  return; 
the  thunder  of  the  surf  brought  no  hopeful  message  of 
succour,  but  rather  warned  the  lonely  men  to  hasten  back 
while  yet  some  strength  remained  to  them. 

Sturt  re-entered  the  Murray  on  his  homeward  journey 
on  the  13th  of  February;  and  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  this  return  is  Sturt 's  greatest  achieve- 
ment. His  crew  were  indeed  picked  men,  but  what  other 
Australian  leader  of  exploration  could  have  inspired 
them  with  such  a  deep  sense  of  devotion  as  to  carry  them 
through  their  herculean  task  without  one  word  of 
insubordination  or  reproach.  ''I  must  tell  the  Captain 
to-morrow  that  I  can  pull  no  more,"  was  the  utmost 
that  Sturt  heard  once,  when  they  thought  him  asleep; 
but  when  the  morrow  came  the  speaker  stubbornly 
pulled  on. 

Three  of  these  men,  it  must  be  remembered,  were 
■convicts;  yet,  despite  their  heroic  conduct,  one  only 
(Clayton)  received  a  free  pardon  on  their  return,  though 
Sturt  did  his  utmost  to  win  fuller  recognition  of  their 
merits. 

In  such  a  work  of  generalisation  as  this,  space  will  not 
permit  of  a  detailed  account  of  the  return  voyage,  but 
on  the  20th  of  March  they  reached  the  camp  on  the 
Murrumbidgee  from  which  they  had  started.  The  relief 
party  were  not  there,  and  there  was  nothing  left  but  to 
toil  on,  though  the  men  were  falling  asleep  at  the  oars, 
and  the  river  itself  rose  and  raged  madly  against  them. 
"When  they  reached  a  point  within  ninety  miles  of  the 
depot  where  Sturt  expected  the  relief  party  to  be,  they 
landed,  and  two  men — Hopkinson  and  Mulholland — went 
forward  on  foot  for  succour.  They  were  now  almost 
utterly  without  food,  and  had  to  wait  six  dragging  days 
before  men  arrived  with  drays  and  stores  to  their  aid. 

One  little  item  let  me  add;  the  boat  being  no  longer 
serviceable,  was  burnt,  Sturt  giving  as  a  reason  that  he 
was  reluctant  to  leave  her  like  a  log  on  the  water.  What 
a  priceless  relic  that  boat  would  now  have  become ! 

Sturt  received  but  scant  appreciation  on  his  return 
from  this  heroic  journey.     His  eyesight  was  impaired 


CHARLES    STURT  75 

and  Ms  health  was  failing ;  but  instead  of  obtaining  much- 
needed  rest,  he  was  sent  to  Norfolk  Island,  with  a 
detachment  of  his  regiment.  There  the  moist  climate  still 
further  prejudiced  his  health,  though  he  was  able  to  quell 
a  mutiny  of  the  convicts,  and  to  save  Norfolk  Island  from 
falling  into  their  hands.  Governor  Darling  too  proposed 
that  Sturt  should  be  sent  as  British  Resident  to  New 
Zealand,  but  filled  with  the  love  of  continental  explor- 
ation, he  would  not  leave  Australia,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  fossils  of  the  Colonial  Office,  who  did  not  know  of 
him,  and  promptly  appointed  Busby.  Even  Sir  G. 
Murray,  after  whom  the  river  had  been  named,  had  never 
heard  of  the  river. 

In  1832  or  a  little  later,  the  temporary  loss  of  the  sight 
of  one  eye  forced  him  to  go  to  England  on  leave,  when 
he  also  bade  adieu  to  his  regiment,  which  was  ordered  to 
India. 

While  in  England,  he  published  the  first  of  his  maps 
and  books,  but  his  eyesight  totally  failing  him,  he  retired 
from  the  army,  July,  1833.  Sturt 's  eyesight,  although 
never  the  same  as  before,  was  gradually  restored  to  him, 
and  on  September  the  21st,  1834,  he  was  married  at 
Dover  to  Charlotte  Greene. 

We  must  now  take  leave  of  this  distinguished  man, 
until  he  reappears  in  these  pages  as  an  explorer  of 
Central  Australia.* 


•See  Chapter  XII. 


Chapter  VII. 
SIE  THOMAS  MITCHELL. 


( i. )  — Inteoductory. 

Mitchell,  whose  name  both  as  explorer  and  Surveyor- 
General  looms  large  in  our  history,  was  born  at 
Craigend,  Stirlingshire,  in  1792.  He  was  the  son  of 
John  Mitchell  of  Grangemouth,  and  his  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  Alexander  Milne  of  Carron  Works.    When 

he  was  but  sixteen,  young 
Mitchell  joined  the  army 
of  the  Peninsula  as  a 
volunteer.  Three  years 
later  he  received  a  com- 
mission in  the  95th 
Eegiment  or  Rifle  Brigade. 
He  was  employed  on  the 
Quartermaster  General 's 
staff  at  military  sketching ; 
and  he  was  present  in  the 
field  at  Ciudad  Rodrigo, 
Badajoz,  Salamanca,  the 
Pyrenees,  and  St.  Sebas- 
tian. After  the  close 
of  the  war  he  went  to 
Spain  and  Portugal  to 
survey  the  battlefields. 
He  received  promotion  to  a  Lieutenancy  in  1813.  He 
served  in  the  2nd,  54th,  and  97th  Regiments  of  foot,  and 
was  promoted  to  be  Captain  in  1822,  and  Major  in  1826. 
His  appointment  as  Surveyor-General  of  New  South 
Wales,  as  successor  to  John  Oxley,  took  place  in  1827, 
when  he  at  once  assumed  office,  and  started  energetically 
to  lay  out  and  construct  roads,  then  the  urgent  need  of  the 
new  colony. 

76 


Sir  Thomas  Mitchell. 


SIR  THOMAS  MITCHELL  77 

His  strong  personality,  and  the  energy  and  thorough- 
ness he  displayed  in  all  his  undertakings,  combined  with 
his  many  gifts  as  draughtsman,  surveyor  and  organizer, 
proved  to  be  of  peculiar  service  to  the  colony  at  that 
period  of  its  existence.  There  was  a  vast  unknown 
country  surrounding  the  settled  parts,  awaiting  both 
discovery  and  development,  and  Mitchell's  inclinations 
and  talents  being  strongly  directed  towards  geographical 
discovery,  the  office  of  Surveyor-General  that  he  held  for 
so  long  was  the  most  appropriate  and  advantageous 
appointment  that  could  have  been  given  him  in  the 
interests  of  the  colony. 

At  the  same  time,  Major  Mitchell  had  faults  which  have 
always  detracted  from  the  estimation  in  which  he  would 
otherwise  be  held  for  his  undoubted  capabilities.  His 
domineering  temper  led  him  into  acts  of  injustice,  and 
often  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  allow  the  judgments 
of  others  to  influence  his  opinions.  In  his  view,  no  other 
explorer  but  himself  ever  achieved  anything  worthy  of 
commendation  or  propounded  any  credible  theory 
regarding  the  interior  of  Australia.  He  always  referred 
slightingly  to  Sturt,  Cunningham,  and  Leichhardt,  and  his 
perversity  on  the  subject  of  the  junction  of  the  Darling 
and  the  Murray  drew  even  from  the  gentle  Sturt  a  richly- 
deserved  and  unanswerable  retort.  On  his  second 
expedition,  which  was  supposed  to  establish  the  identity 
of  the  Darling  with  the  junction  seen  by  Sturt,  Mitchell 
excused  himself  from  further  exploration  of  the  lower 
Darling  as  he  expressed  himself  satisfied  that  Sturt 's 
supposition  was  justified.  But  later,  when  on  his 
expedition  to  what  is  now  the  State  of  Victoria,  he  again 
fell  into  a  doubting  mood,  and  he  was  not  finally 
convinced  until  he  had  re-visited  the  junction.  This 
constant  doubting  at  last  roused  Sturt,  who  speaking  in 
1848  of  Mitchell's  work,  said: — ''In  due  time  he  came  to 
the  disputed  junction,  which  he  tells  us  he  recognised 
from  its  resemblance  to  a  drawing  of  it  in  my  first  work. 
As  I  have  since  been  on  the  spot,  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
it  is  not  at  all  like  the  place,  because  it  obliges  me  to 
reject  the  only  praise  Sir  Thomas  Mitchell  ever  gave  me." 


78  EXPLOEERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Sturt's  original  sketch  of  the  junction  had  been  lost» 
and  Sturt,  who  was  nearly  blind  at  the  time  of  publication, 
obtained  the  assistance  of  a  friend,  who  drew  it  from  his 
verbal  description. 

(ii.) — The  Upper  Darling. 

Rumours  of  a  mysterious  river  called  the  Kindur,  which 
was  said, on  no  better  authority  than  a  runaway  convict's, 
to  pursue  a  north-west  course  through  Australia,  now 
began  to  be  noised  about.  This  convict,  whose  name  was 
Clarke,  but  who  was  generally  known  as  ''the  Barber," 
said  that  he  had  taken  to  the  bush  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Liverpool  Plains,  and  had  followed  down  a  river 
which  the  natives  called  the  Gnamoi.  He  crossed  it  and 
came  next  to  the  Kindur.  This  he  followed  down  for 
four  hundred  miles  before  he  came  upon  the  junction  of 
the  two.  The  union  of  the  two  formed  a  broad  navigable 
river,  which  he  still  followed,  although  he  had  lost  his 
reckoning,  and  did  not  know  whether  he  had  travelled 
five  hundred  or  five  thousand  miles.  One  thing,  however, 
he  was  convinced  of,  and  that  was  that  he  had  never 
travelled  south  of  west.  He  asserted  that  he  had  a  good 
view  of  the  sea,  from  the  mouth  of  this  most  desirable 
river,  and  had  seen  a  large  island  from  which,  so  the 
natives  reported,  there  came  copper-coloured  men  in  large 
canoes  to  take  away  scented  wood.  The  Kindur  ran 
through  immense  plains,  and  past  a  burning  mountain. 
As  no  one  had  invited  him  to  stay  in  this  delectable 
country,  he  had  returned. 

The  story,  which  bore  every  evidence  of  having  been 
invented  to  save  his  back,  received  a  certain  amount  of 
credence,  and  Sir  Patrick  Lindesay,  then  Acting- 
Grovernor,  gave  the  Surveyor- General  instructions  to 
investigate  the  truth  of  it.  It  was  in  this  way  that 
Mitchell's  first  expedition  originated. 

On  the  21st  of  November,  1831,  Mitchell  left  Liverpool 
Plains  and  reached  the  Namoi  on  the  16tli  December. 
He  crossed  it  and  penetrated  some  distance  into  a  range 
which  he  named  the  Nundawar  Range.    He  then  turned 


SIR  THOMAS  MITCHELL  7^ 

back  to  the  Namoi,  and  set  up  some  canvas  boats  which 
he  had  brought  to  assist  him  in  following  the  river  down. 
The  boats  were  of  no  use  for  the  purpose,  one  of  them 
getting  snagged  immediately,  and  it  was  clear  that  it 
would  be  easier  to  follow  the  river  on  land.  As  the  range 
was  not  easy  of  ascent,  he  worked  his  way  round  the 
end  of  it  and  came  on  to  the  lower  course  of  Cunningham's 
Gwydir,  which  he  followed  down  for  eighty  miles.  At 
this  point  he  turned  north  and  suddenly  came  to  the 
largest  river  he  had  yet  seen.  Mitchell,  ever  on  the  alert 
to  bestow  native  names  on  geographical  features — a  most 
praiseworthy  trait  in  his  character,  and  through  the 
absence  of  which  in  most  other  explorers,  Australian 
nomenclature  lacks  distinction  and  often  euphony — 
enquired  of  the  name  from  the  natives,  and  found  it  to 
be  called  the  Karaula.  Was  this,  or  was  this  not  the 
nebulous  Kindur?  The  answer  could  be  supplied  only 
by  tracing  its  course;  but  its  general  direction  and  the 
discovery  and  recognition  of  its  junction  with  the  Gwydir 
showed  that  the  Karaula  was  but  the  upper  flow  of  Sturt's 
Darling.  Much  disappointed,  for  Mitchell  was  intent 
upon  the  discovery  of  a  new  river  system  having  a 
northerly  outflow,  he  prepared  to  make  a  bold  push  into 
the  interior.  Before  he  started.  Finch,  his  assistant- 
surveyor,  arrived  hurriedly  on  the  scene  with  a  tale  of 
death.  Finch  had  been  bringing  up  supplies,  and  during 
his  temporary  absence  his  camp  had  been  attacked  by 
the  natives,  the  cattle  dispersed,  the  supplies  carried  off, 
and  two  of  the  teamsters  murdered.  All  ideas  of  further 
penetration  into  the  new  country  had  to  be  abandoned. 
Mitchell  was  compelled  to  hasten  back,  bury  the  bodies  of 
the  victims,  and  after  an  ineffective  quest  for  the 
murderers,  return  to  the  settled  districts. 

The  journey,  however,  had  not  been  without  good 
results.  Knowledge  of  the  Darling  had  been  considerably 
extended,  and  it  was  now  shown  to  be  the  stream  receivings 
the  outflow  of  the  rivers  whose  higher  courses 
Cunningham  had  discovered.  The  beginning  of  the  great 
river  system  of  the  Darling  may  be  said  to  have  been 
thus  placed  among  proven  data.    Mitchell  himself  after- 


430  EXPLOEERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 

irards  showed  himself  an  untiring  and  zealous  worker  in 
solving  the  identity  of  the  many  ramifications  of  this 
.system. 

(iii.) — The  Passage  of  the  Darling. 
His  next  journey  was  undertaken  to  confirm  the  fact 
■of  the  union  of  the  Darling  and  the  Murray.  Sturt  him- 
self was  fully  convinced  that  he  had  seen  the  junction  of 
the  two  rivers  when  on  his  long  boat  voyage ;  but  he  had 
not  converted  every  one,  and  Mitchell,  with  a  large  party 
was  despatched  to  settle  the  question  and  make  a 
systematic  survey.  Early  in  March,  1833,  the  expedition 
left  Parramatta  to  proceed  by  easy  stages  to  the  head  of 
the  Bogan  River,  which  had  been  partly  traversed  the 
year  before  by  surveyor  Dixon.  It  was  during  this 
expedition  that  Richard  Cunningham,  brother  of  Allan, 
was  murdered  by  the  natives.  He  had  not  been  long  in 
Australia,  and  had  been  appointed  botanist  to  the 
expedition.  On  the  morning  of  April  17th,  he  lost  sight 
of  the  party,  whilst  pursuing  some  scientific  quest,  and 
as  the  main  body  were  then  pushing  hurriedly  over  a  dry 
stage  to  the  Bogan  River,  he  was  not  immediately  missed. 
Not  having  any  bush  experience,  he  lost  himself,  and  was 
never  seen  again.  A  long  and  painful  search  followed, 
but  owing  to  some  mischance,  Cunningham's  tracks  were 
lost  on  the  third  day,  and  it  was  not  until  the  23rd  of  the 
month  that  they  were  again  found.  Larmer,  the  assistant- 
surveyor,  and  three  men  were  sent  to  follow  them  up 
until  they  found  the  lost  man.  Three  days  later  they 
returned,  having  come  across  only  the  horse  he  had 
ridden,  dead,  with  the  saddle  and  bridle  still  on.  Mitchell 
personally  conducted  the  further  search.  Cunningham's 
tracks  were  again  picked  up,  and  his  wandering  and 
erratic  footsteps  traced  to  the  Bogan,  where  some  blacks 
stated  that  they  had  seen  the  white  man's  tracks  in  the 
bed  of  the  river,  and  that  he  had  gone  west  with  the 
•^'Myalls,"  or  wild  blacks.* 

''Lieut.  Zouch,  of  the  Mounted  Police,  subsequently  found  the  site  of  his  death,  and 
recovered  a  few  bones,  a  Manilla  hat,  and  portions  of  a  coat.  The  account  afterwards 
given  by  the  natives  was  to  the  effect  that  the  white  man  came  to  them  and  they  gave 
him  food,  and  he  camped  with  them  :  but  that  during  the  night  he  repeatedly  got  u)),  and 
this  roused  their  fears  and  suspicions,  so  that  they  determined  to  destroy  laini.  One 
struck  him  on  the  back  of  the  head  with  a  nulla-nulla,  when  the  others  rushed  in  and 
finished  the  deadly  work. 


SIR   THOMAS   MITCHELL 


81 


As  is  often  the  case  with  men  lost  in  the  bush,  the 
unfortunate  botanist,  by  wandering  on  confusing  and 
contradictory  courses,  had  rendered  the  work  of  the 
search  party  more  tedious  and  difficult,  thus  sealing  his 


A  Chief  of  the  Bogan  Kiver  Tribe. 


Photo  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Curran. 


own  fate.  A  rude  stone  memorial  has  since  been  erected 
on  the  spot,  and  a  tablet  put  up  in  the  St.  Andrew's 
Scots  Church,  Sydney.  The  death  of  Cunningham,  who 
was  a  young  and  ardent  man  with  the  promise  of  a  brilliant 


82  EXPLOREKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

future,  caused  Mitchell  much  distress  of  mind.  He  did 
all  he  could  to  find  his  lost  comrade,  and  jeopardised 
the  success  of  the  expedition  by  the  long  delay  of  fourteen 
days. 

He  resumed  his  journey  by  easy  stages  down  the  Bogan, 
and  on  the  25th  of  May  came  to  the  Darling.  This  river 
(vas  at  once  recognised  by  all  who  had  been  with  him 
on  his  former  trip  as  identical  with  the  Karaula  a& 
Mitchell  had  supposed;  but  he  found  the  country  in  a 
different  condition  from  that  presented  by  it  when  Sturt 
and  Hume  first  discovered  the  river  at  nearly  the  same 
place.  The  water  was  now  fresh  and  sweet  to  drink,  and 
the  flats  and  banks  luxuriant  with  grass  and  herbage. 

After  choosing  a  site  for  a  camp,  where  the 
town  of  Bourke  now  stands,  Mitchell  erected  a  stockade 
of  logs,  which  he  named  Fort  Bourke,  after  the  Governor. 
The  country  on  either  side  of  the  Darling  was  now  alive 
with  natives,  and  though  a  sort  of  armed  truce  was 
kept  up,  it  was  at  the  cost  of  constant  care  and 
watchfulness,  and  the  tactful  submission  to  numerous 
annoyances,  including  much  petty  pilfering.  The  boats 
proved  to  be  of  no  service,  and  after  Mitchell  with  a  small 
party  had  made  a  short  excursion  down  the  river  to  the 
farthest  limit  of  Sturt  and  Hume  in  1829,  where  he  saw 
the  tree  then  marked  by  Hume,  "H.H.,"  he  had  the  camp 
dismantled,  and  started  with  the  whole  party  to  follow 
the  river  down  to  its  junction  with  the  Murray. 

By  the  11th  of  July,  one  month  after  leaving  Fort 
Bourke,  they  had  traced  the  river  for  three  hundred  miles 
through  a  country  of  level  monotony  unbroken  by  any 
tributary  rivers  or  creeks  of  the  least  importance. 
Mitchell  was  now  certain  from  the  steadfast  direction  the 
river  maintained,  and  the  short  distance  that  now  inter- 
vened between  the  lowest  point  they  had  reached  and 
Sturt 's  junction,  that  Sturt  had  really  been  correct  in  his 
surmise,  and  that  he  had  witnessed  the  meeting  of  the 
rivers  on  that  memorable  occasion.  He  therefore  decided 
that  to  keep  on  was  but  needlessly  endangering  the  lives 
of  his  men.  He  was  constantly  kept  in  a  state  of  anxiety 
for  the  safety  of  any  member  of  the  party  whose  duty 


SIK  THOMAS  MITCHELL  83 

compelled  him  to  separate  from  the  main  body,  for  the 
natives,  who  had  become  doubly  bold  through  familiarity, 
were  now  persistently  encroaching  and  rapidly  assuming 
a  defiant  manner. 

On  the  very  day  that  Mitchell  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
retreat,  the  long-threatened  rupture  took  place.  Mitchell 
refers  to  the  blacks  of  this  region  as  the  most 
unfavourable  specimens  of  aborigine  that  he  had  yet 
seen,  barbarously  and  implacably  hostile,  and  shamelessly 
dishonest.  On  the  morning  of  July  11th,  two  of  the  men 
were  engaged  at  the  river,  and  five  of  the  bullock-drivers 
were  collecting  their  cattle.  One  of  the  natives,  nick- 
named ' '  King  Peter ' '  by  the  men,  tried  to  snatch  a  kettle 
from  the  hand  of  the  man  who  was  carrying  it,  and  on  this 
action  being  resented,  he  struck  the  man  with  a  nulla- 
nulla,  stretching  him  senseless.  His  companion  shot  King 
Peter  in  the  groin,  and  his  majesty  tumbled  into  the 
river  and  swam  across.  The  swarm  of  natives  who  were 
constantly  loitering  around  the  camp,  gathered  together 
and  advanced  in  an  armed  crowd,  threatening  the  men, 
who  fired  two  shots  in  self-defence,  one  of  which  accident- 
ally wounded  a  woman.  Alarmed  by  the  shots,  three  men 
from  the  camp  came  to  the  assistance  of  their  mates,  and 
one  native  was  shot  just  when  he  was  about  to  spear  a 
man.  The  blacks  now  drew  back  a  little,  and  tbe  men 
seized  the  opportunity  to  warn  the  bullock-drivers,  whom 
they  found  occupied  in  lifting  a  bullock  that  had  fallen 
into  a  bog.  Their  arrival  probably  saved  their  lives,  as 
the  bullock-drivers  were  unarmed.  No  further  attack  took 
place,  but  the  strictest  watch  had  to  be  kept  until  the 
party  was  ready  to  begin  the  return  journey  or  to  beat  a 
retreat  as  the  natives  regarded  it.  They  reached  Fort 
Bourke  without  further  molestation,  the  aborigines 
being  content  with  having  driven  away  the  whites,  who 
retraced  their  steps  from  Fort  Bourke  to  Bathurst. 

The  geographical  knowledge  gained  on  this  journey 
consisted  mainly  in  the  confirmation  of  tentative  theories 
— the  identity  of  the  Karaula  with  the  Darling,  and  the 
uninterrupted  course  of  the  latter  river  southwards,  as 
Major  Mitchell  himself  had  to  confess,  into  the  Murray. 


84  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Furthermore  it  seemed  now  satisfactorily  settled  that  all 
the  inland  rivers  as  yet  discovered  fomid  the  same 
common  embouchure.  Mitchell's  experience  too  proved 
that  the  pastoral  country  through  which  the  Darling  ran 
was  by  no  means  unfit  for  habitation,  nor  was  the  river 
a  salt  one;  true  some  of  his  men  had  noticed  that  the 
water  was  brackish  in  places,  but  this  brackishness,  it 
was  seen,  had  a  purely  local  origin. 

Mitchell  was  a  keen  observer  of  the  habits  and  customs 
of  the  aborigines.  He  was  remarkably  quick  at  detecting 
tribal  differences  and  distinctions,  and  his  records  of  his 
intercourse  with  them — which  occupies  so  much  of  his 
journals — were  most  interesting  then,  when  little  had 
been  written  on  the  subject ;  and  are  even  more  valuable 
now,  as  a  first-hand  account  by  an  intelligent  man  and 
a  practised  observer  of  the  appearance  of  the  natives  at 
the  time  of  earliest  contact  with  the  white  man. 

(iv.) — Australia  Felix. 

One  would  have  thought  that  the  fact  of  the  union  of 
the  Darling  and  the  Murray  was  now  sufficiently  well- 
established  ;  but  the  official  mind  deemed  otherwise.  When 
the  Surveyor-General's  next  expedition  started  in  March, 
1836,  he  was  informed  that  the  survey  of  the  Darling  was 
to  be  completed  without  any  delay ;  that,  having  returned 
to  the  point  where  his  last  journey  had  come  to  an  end, 
he  was  to  trace  the  river  right  into  the  Murray — see  the 
waters  of  the  two  mingle  in  fact — then  to  cross  over  the 
Murray  and  follow  up  the  southern  bank,  recrossing,  and 
regaining  the  settled  districts  at  Yass  Plains.  Although 
the  primary  object  of  the  expedition  was  the  verification 
of  previous  discoveries,  the  programme  was  largely 
departed  from,  and  this  particular  journey  of  Mitchell's 
led  to  the  opening  up  and  speedy  settlement  of  what  is 
now  the  State  of  Victoria. 

A  drought,  long-continued  and  severe,  was  in  full  force 
when  Mitchell  commenced  his  preparations  for  departure ; 
consequently  bullocks  and  horses  in  suitable  condition 
were  hard  to  obtain.    But  as  the  Government  spared  no 


SIR   THOMAS   MITCHELL,  85 

expense,  the  necessary  animals  were  at  last  available. 
Though  upon  reaching  Bathurst  Mitchell  was  informed 
that  the  Lachlan  River  was  dry,  he  started  on  his  third 
exploring  expedition  in  the  best  of  spirits.  His  mind 
overflowed  with  old  memories  and  associations,  and  he 
wrote  in  his  journal  that  this  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
day  ''when  he  marched  down  the  glacis  of  St.  Elvas  to 
the  tune  of  'St.  Patrick's  Day  in  the  Morning,'  as  the 
sun  rose  over  the  beleaguered  towers  of  Badajoz. "  He 
had  heard  that  the  aborigines  of  the  lower  Murray  had 
been  informed  of  his  approach,  and  that  they  had  assured 
the  other  tribes  that  they  were  gathering  "murry  coolah" 
— very  angry — to  meet  him,  but  this  to  one  of  the  Major's 
temper,  lent  but  an  added  zest  to  the  journey;  for  there 
were  old  scores  to  settle  on  both  sides.  It  was  the  17th 
of  March,  1836,  before  he  got  free  of  the  cattle  stations 
and  found  himself  at  the  point  where  Oxley  had  finally 
left  the  river.  He  noticed  that  throughout  this  route,  in 
spite  of  the  dry  weather,  the  cattle  were  all  in  good 
condition;  and  he  found  Oxley 's  swamps  and  marshes 
transmuted  into  grassy  flats.  In  fact,  so  changed  was  the 
face  of  the  land,  that  even  the  landmarks  of  that  explorer 
could  scarcely  be  recognised. 

Again  his  mind  began  to  be  troubled  with  doubts  as  to 
whether  he  had  not  acknowledged  the  veracity  of  Sturt  's 
judgment  too  hastily,  for  we  find  in  his  journal  that  he 
again  wavered,  after  professing  that  the  identity  admitted 
of  little  doubt.  Now,  on  the  Lachlan,  he  reverted  to  his 
old  idea  that  the  Darling  drained  a  separate  and 
independent  basin  of  its  own.    He  wrote : — - 

"I  considered  it  necessary  to  ascertain,  if  possible, 
and  before  the  heavy  part  of  our  equipage  moved  further 
forward,  whether  the  Lachlan  actually  joined  the 
Murrumbidgee  near  the  point  where  Mr.  Oxley  saw  its 
waters  covering  the  face  of  the  country,  or  whether  it 
pursued  a  course  so  much  more  to  the  westward  as  to 
have  been  mistaken  for  the  Darling  by  Captain  Sturt." 

Impelled  by  this  doubt  he  undertook  a  long  excursion 
to  the  westward  with  no  result  but  the  discomfort  of 
several  thirsty  nights  and  an  unchanging  outlook  across 


86  EXPLOKERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

a  level  expanse  of  country  bounded  by  an  unbroken 
horizon.  He  reached  Oxley's  furthest  on  the  5th  of  May, 
but  did  not  find  that  explorer's  marked  tree,  though  he 
found  others  marked  by  Oxley's  party  with  the  date 
1817. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  he  halted  on  the  bank  of  the 
Murrumbidgee,  which  in  his  opinion  surpassed  all  the 
other  Australian  rivers  he  had  yet  seen.  As  his  orders 
were  simply  to  clear  up  the  last  hazy  doubts  that  wrapped 
the  Murray  and  Darling  junction,  and  then  to  visit  the 
southern  bank  of  the  Murray,  he  did  not  take  his  heavy 
baggage  on  to  the  Darling,  but  formed  a  stationary  camp 
on  the  Murrumbidgee,  and  thence  went  on  with  a  small 
party.  When  they  came  to  the  Murray,  they  found  their 
old  enemies  awatch  for  them.  It  was  afterwards  ascer- 
tained that  many  of  these  aborigines  had  travelled  as 
far  as  two  hundred  miles  to  assist  in  chasing  back  the 
white  intruders  once  more  from  their  violated  hunting- 
grounds.  But  these  braves  of  the  Darling  did  not  yet 
understand  the  nature  of  the  man  they  sought  to 
intimidate. 

At  first  a  nominal  peace  prevailed,  and  for  two  days 
the  blacks  followed  the  expedition  closely,  seeking  to 
cut  off  any  stragglers,  and  rendered  the  out-roving  work 
of  minding  and  collecting  the  cattle  and  horses  one  of 
considerable  risk.  Mitchell  was  soon  convinced  that  a 
sharp  lesson  was  necessary  to  save  his  men.  In  the  event 
of  losing  any  of  his  party,  he  would  have  had  to  fight  his 
way  back  with  the  warriors  of  what  seemed  a  thickly- 
populated  district  arrayed  against  him.  One  morning, 
therefore,  the  party  was  divided,  and  half  of  them  sent 
back  to  an  ambush  in  the  scrub.  The  natives  were 
allowed  to  pass  on  in  close  pursuit  of  the  advance  party. 
The  native  dogs,  however,  scented  this  ambuscade,  and, 
after  their  fashion,  warned  the  blacks  of  the  presence 
of  the  hidden  whites.  As  they  halted,  and  began  handling 
and  poising  their  spears,  one  of  the  ambushed  men  fired 
without  orders,  and  the  others  followed  his  example.  The 
natives  faltered,  and  those  in  advance,  hearing  the  firing, 
rushed  back  eager  to  join  in  the  fray.    The  conflict  was 


SIR  THOMAS  MITCHELL.  87 

short  and  decisive :  the  over-confident  fighting-men  of  the 
Darling  lost  seven  of  their  number  and  were  driven 
ignominiously  back  into  the  Murray  scrub  and  across 
that  river.  Henceforth  the  explorers  were  unmolested. 
These  pugnacious  aboriginals  were  the  same  that 
had  threatened  to  bring  Sturt's  boat  voyage  to  a  tragical 
■conclusion,  and  soon  after  Mitchell's  exploration,  they 
waged  a  determined  war  against  the  early  overlanders 
and  their  stock. 

Mitchell's  way  to  the  Darling  was  now  clear,  and  on  the 
31st  of  May  he  came  upon  that  river,  a  short  distance 
above  the  confluence.  Tracing  the  stream  upwards,  he 
again  convinced  himself  that  it  was  the  same  river  that 
he  had  been  on  before,  and,  satisfied  of  this,  he  turned  and 
proceeded  right  down  to  the  junction  itself,  and  finally 
disposed  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  problems  in 
Australian  exploration. 

He  naturally  felt  much  anxiety,  after  his  late  skirmish, 
for  the  safety  of  the  stationary  camp  he  had  left  behind, 
and  having  lost  no  time  during  his  return,  he  was  relieved 
to  find  his  camp  in  quiet  and  safety. 

The  Surveyor-General  first  mapped  the  exact  junction 
of  the  Murrumbidgee  and  Murray,  and  then  transferred 
the  whole  of  the  expedition  in  boats  to  the  other  side 
of  the  Murray.  Thus  was  commenced  the  investigation 
of  the  unexplored  side  of  the  Murray,  that  above  its 
junction  with  the  Murrumbidgee,  in  other  words  the  Hume 
proper.  On  the  30th  of  June  the  party  camped  at  Swan 
Hill,  having  found  the  country  traversed  to  exceed 
expectations  in  every  way.  This  pleasing  state  of  affairs 
continued  and  Mitchell  journeyed  on  without  check  or 
hindrance.  After  finding  the  Loddon  Eiver  on  the  8th 
of  July,  and  the  Avoca  on  the  10th,  he  altered  his 
preconceived  plan  to  follow  the  main  river  up,  and,  drawn 
by  the  beauty  and  pastoral  advantages  of  this  new 
territory,  he  struck  off  to  the  south-west  in  order  to 
examine  it  in  detail,  and  trace  its  development  south- 
wards. 

More  and  more  convinced  that  he  had  found  the  garden 
of     Australia — he     afterwards     named     this     region 


88  EXPLOKERS  OP  AUSTRALIA 

** Australia  Felix" — Mitchell  kept  steadily  on  until  he 
came  to  the  Wimmera,  that  deceptive  river  which  after- 
wards nearly  lured  Eyre  to  a  death  of  thirst.  On  the  last 
day  of  July  he  discovered  the  beautiful  Glenelg,  and 
launched  his  boat  on  its  waters.  At  the  outset  he  was 
stopped  by  a  fall,  was  compelled  to  take  to  the  land  once 
more,  and  proceeded  along  the  bank,  occasionally  crossing 
to  examine  the  other  side.  On  the  18th  the  boats  were 
again  used,  the  river  being  much  broader,  and  in  two 
days  he  reached  the  coast,  a  little  to  the  east  of  Cape 
Northumberland. 

The  whole  expedition  then  moved  homewards,  and 
reached  Portland  Bay,  where  they  found  that  the  Henty 
family  from  Van  Diemen's  Land  had  been  established  on 
a  farm  for  about  two  years.  From  them  Mitchell  received 
some  assistance  in  the  way  of  necessary  supplies,  and  then 
resumed  his  journey  for  home.  On  the  19th  the  party 
separated ;  Mitchell  pushed  ahead,  leaving  Stapylton,  his 
second,  to  rest  the  tired  animals  for  a  while  and  then  to 
follow  slowly.  On  his  homeward  way  Mitchell  ascended 
Mount  Macedon,  and  from  the  summit  saw  and  identified 
Port  Phillip.  His  return,  with  his  glowing  report  of 
the  splendid  country  he  had  discovered — country  fitted 
for  the  immediate  occupation  of  the  grazier  and  the 
farmer — at  once  stimulated  its  settlement,  and  as  the  man 
whose  explorations  were  of  .immediate  benefit  to  the 
community  in  general— Mitchell's  name  stands  first  on 
the  roll  of  explorers. 

(v.) — Discovery  of  the  Barcoo. 

Some  years  elapsed  before  Mitchell — now  Sir  Thomas 
— again  took  to  the  field  of  active  exploration.  The 
settlement  of  the  upper  Darling  and  the  Darling  Downs 
had  caused  numerous  speculations  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
unknown  territory  comprising  the  northern  half  of 
Australia.  In  1841,  communications  had  passed  between 
the  Governor  and  Captain  Sturt,  and  in  December  of  the 
same  year  Eyre,  not  long  returned  from  his  march  round 
the  Great  Bight,  wrote  offering  his  services,  provided  that 


SIR  THOMAS  MITCHELL  89' 

no  prior  claim  had  been  advanced  by  Sturt.  Governor 
Gipps  asked  for  an  estimate  of  the  expenses,  but 
considered  Eyre's  estimate  of  five  thousand  pounds  too- 
high,  and  nothing  further  was  done.  In  1843,  Sir  Thomas 
Mitchell  submitted  a  plan  of  exploration  to  the  Governor, 
who  consulted  the  Legislative  Council.  The  Council 
approved  it  and  voted  one  thousand  pounds  towards 
expenses.  The  Governor  referred  the  matter  to  Lord 
Stanley,  whose  reply  was  favourable,  but  the  project  still 
hung  fire.  In  1844  Eyre  again  wrote  offering  to  make- 
the  journey  at  a  much  more  reasonable  rate,  but  his  offer 
was  however  declined  as  Mitchell's  proposals  held  the^ 
field.  In  1845  the  fund  was  increased  to  two  thousand 
pounds,  and  Sir  George  Gipps  ordered  the  Surveyor- 
General  to  make  his  preparations. 

Mitchell  favoured  the  search  for  a  practicable  road  to 
the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  and  hoped  also  that  he  would  at 
last  find  his  long-sought  northern-flowing  river.  In  a 
letter  which  he  then  received  from  a  well-known  grazier, 
Walter  Bagot,  there  is  mention  of  an  aboriginal 
description  of  a  large  river  running  northward  to  the 
west  of  the  Darling.  But  as  natives  in  their  descriptions 
frequently  confuse  flowing  to  and  flowing  from,  they 
probably  had  Cooper's  Creek  in  mind. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  the  year.  Commissioner 
Mitchell,  the  son  of  Sir  Thomas,  who  was  afterwards 
drowned  during  a  passage  to  Newcastle,  had  made  a  flying 
survey  towards  the  Darling,  and  the  discovery  of  the 
Narran,  Balbnne,  and  Culgoa  rivers  has  been  attributed 
to  him. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  1845,  Mitchell  started  from 
Buree  with  a  very  large  company,  including  E.  B. 
Kennedy  as  second  in  command,  and  W.  Stephenson  as 
surgeon  and  collector.  He  struck  the  Darling  much 
higher  than  Fort  Bourke,  and  it  was  not  until  he  was 
across  the  river  that  he  passed  the  outermost  cattle- 
stations,  which  had  sprung  rapidly  into  existence  since 
his  last  visit  to  the  neighbourhood.  The  Narran  was  then 
followed  up  until  the  Balonne  was  reached.  This  river, 
in  his  superlative  style,  Mitchell  pronounced  to  be  the- 


"90  EXPLORERS   OF   AUSTRALIA 

finest  in  Australia,  with  the  exception  of  the  Murray.  He 
then  struck  and  followed  the  Culgoa  upwards  until  it 
divided  into  two  branches ;  he  skirted  the  main  one,  which 
retained  the  name  of  the  Balonne.  On  the  12th  of  April 
he  came  to  the  natural  bridge  of  rocks  which  he  called 
St.  George's  bridge,  and  which  is  the  site  of  the  present 
town  of  St.  George.  Here  a  temporary  camp  was  formed ; 
Kennedy  was  left  in  charge  to  bring  the  main  body  on 
more  slowly;  Mitchell  with  a  few  men  went  ahead.  He 
followed  up  the  Balonne  to  the  Maranoa,  but  as  the  little 
he  saw  of  that  tributary  did  not  tempt  him  to  further 
investigation  of  it,  he  kept  on  his  course  up  the  main 
stream  until  he  reached  the  junction  of  a  stream  which 
he  named  the  Cogoon.  This  riverlet  led  him  on  into  a 
magnificent  pastoral  district,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood 
a  solitary  hill  that  he  named  Mount  Abundance.  It  is 
in  his  description  of  this  region  in  his  journal  that  we 
first  find  an  allusion  to  the  bottle  tree. 

The  party  wandered  on  over  a  low  watershed  and  came 
•down  out  on  to  a  river  which,  from  its  direction  and 
position,  he  surmised  to  be  the  Maranoa,  the  stream  he 
Jiad  not  followed.  At  this  new  point  it  was  full  of  deep 
reaches  of  water,  and  drained  a  tract  of  most  pleasing 
land.  On  its  banks  he  determined  to  await  Kennedy's 
arrival. 

Kennedy  overtook  him  on  the  1st  of  June,  bringing 
from  Sir  Thomas's  son  Eoderick  despatches  which  had 
reached  the  party  after  the  leader's  departure.  Amongst 
other  items  of  news  in  the  despatches  was  the  report  of 
Leichhardt's  return,  and  of  the  hearty  reception  that  he 
had  been  accorded  in  Sydney.  One  piece  of  random 
information,  a  mere  floating  newspaper  surmise,  but 
enough  to  arouse  Mitchell's  suspicious  temper,  annoyed 
him  greatly.  ''We  understand,"  it  ran,  ''the  intrepid 
Dr.  Leichhardt  is  about  to  start  another  expedition  to  the 
Gulf,  keeping  to  the  westward  of  the  coast  ranges. ' ' 

As  this  seemed  to  indicate  an  intention  of  trespassing 
on  Mitchell's  present  field  of  operations,  he  naturally 
felt  some  resentment  not  likely  to  be  allayed  by  such  a 
paragraph  as  the  following: — "Australia  Felix  and  the 


SIR  THOMAS  MITCHELL  91 

discoveries  of  Sir  Thomas  Mitchell  now  dwindle  into 
comparative  insignificance. ' ' 

Again  leaving  Kennedy,  he  set  out  to  make  a  very 
extended  excursion.  Traversing  the  country  from  the 
head  of  the  Maranoa,  he  discovered  the  Warrego  River, 
Keeping  north,  over  the  watershed,  for  a  time  he  fondly 
imagined  that  he  had  reached  northward-flowing  waters ; 
but  the  direction  of  the  rivers  that  he  found,  the  Claude 
and  the  Nogoa,  soon  convinced  him  of  his  error,  and  that 
he  was  on  rivers  of  the  east  coast.  Even  when  he  had 
reached  the  Belyando,  a  river  which  he  named  and 
followed  down  for  a  short  distance,  he  still  deluded 
himself  that  he  had  reached  inland  waters.  Intensely 
mortified  at  finding  that  he  was  on  a  tributary  of  the 
Burdekin,  and  approaching  the  ground  already  trodden 
by  Leichhardt,  he  returned  to  the  head  of  the  Nogoa,  once 
more  subdivided  his  party,  and  formed  a  stationary  camp 
to  await  his  return  from  a  westward  trip. 

This  time,  however,  he  was  blessed  with  the  most 
splendid  success.  He  found  the  Barcoo,  a  river  that 
seemed  to  him  to  promise  all  he  sought  for.  The  direction 
of  its  upper  course  easily  led  him  to  believe  that  it  was 
a,n  affluent  of  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  and  after  tracing 
it  for  some  distance  he  returned  to  camp.  The  newly- 
discovered  river  he  named  the  Victoria,  thinking  it  would 
prove  to  be  the  same  as  that  found  by  Captain  Stokes 
on  his  survey  expedition.  It  was  on  the  Barcoo,  or 
Victoria,  that  Mitchell  first  noticed  the  now  famous  grass 
that  bears  his  name.  On  their  return  journey,  they 
followed  down  the  Maranoa,  and  at  the  old  camp  at  St. 
George's  Bridge,  they  were  told  by  the  natives  that  white 
men  had  visited  the  place  during  their  long  absence.  It 
was  a  singular  and  welcome  feature  of  Mitchell's 
discoveries  that  they  had  always  proved  to  be  adjacent 
to  civilisation,  and  to  be  suitable  for  immediate 
occupation. 

The  discovery  of  the  Barcoo  was  the  last  feather  in 
the  cap  of  the  Surveyor-General.  He  was  doomed  to 
learn  soon  that  it  was  not  the  river  of  his  dreams,  but 
only  the  head  waters  of  that  central  stream  discovered 


92  EXPLOKERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

by  Sturt,  Cooper's  Creek;  but  meanwhile  the  delusion 
must  have  been  very  gratifying. 

In  1851  Mitchell  was  sent  out  to  report  on  the  Bathurst 
goldfields,  and  on  a  subsequent  visit  to  England  he  took 
with  him  the  first  specimen  of  gold  and  the  first  diamond 
found  in  Australia.  He  was  for  a  short  time  one  of  the 
members  for  the  Port  Phillip  electorate,  but  resigned, 
as  he  found  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  to  be 
incompatible  with  his  office.  He  patented  the  ' '  boomerang 
screw  propeller, ' '  and  was  the  author  of  many  educational 
and  other  works,  including  a  translation  of  the  Lusiad 
of  Camoens.  Although  a  strict  martinet  in  his  official 
duties,  and  subject  to  a  choleric  temper,  he  was  strenuous 
in  his  devotion  to  the  advancement  of  Australia,  among 
whose  makers  he  must  always  occupy  a  proud  position. 
He  died  on  the  5th  of  October,  1855,  at  ^'Carthona,"  his 
private  residence  at  Darling  Point,  Sydney,  New  South 
Wales.    His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Blount. 


Chapter  VIII. 
THE  EARLY  FORTIES. 


(i.) — ^Angas  McMillan  and  Gippsland. 

Angas  McMillan,  who  was  the  discoverer  of  what 
is  now  so  widely-known  as  Gippsland,  in  Victoria,  was  a 
manager  of  the  Currawang  station,  in  the  Maneroo 
district.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1839,  he  started  from  the 
station  on  a  trip  to  the  southward  to  look  for  new  grazing 
land.  He  had  with  him  but  one  black  boy,  named  Jimmy 
Gibbu,  who  claimed  to  be  the  chief  of  the  Maneroo  tribe, 
so  that  if  the  party  was  small,  it  was  very  select.  On  the 
fifth  day  McMillan  got  through  to  the  country  watered  by 
the  Buchan  River,  and,  from  the  summit  of  an  elevation 
which  he  called  Mount  Haystack,  he  obtained  a  most 
satisfactory  view  over  the  surrounding  region.  The  next 
night,  McMillan,  awakened  by  a  noise,  found  Jimmy 
Gibbu  bending  over  him  with  a  nulla-nulla  in  his  hand. 
Fortunately,  McMillan's  pistol  was  within  easy  reach, 
and,  presenting  it  at  Jimmy's  head,  he  compelled  him  to 
drop  the  nulla-nulla,  and  to  account  for  his  suspicious 
attitude.  Jimmy  confessed  to  a  fear  of  the  Warrigals, 
or  wild  blacks  of  that  region,  to  acute  home- 
sickness, and  to  a  general  unwillingness  to  proceed 
further. 

McMillan  examined  the  country  he  had  found,  and 
having  judged  it  to  be  very  desirable  pastoral  land,  he 
returned  home.  He  then  formed  a  new  station  for  Mr. 
Macallister  on  some  country  he  had  found  on  the  Tambo 
River,  and  went  himself  on  another  trip  of  discovery. 
This  time  he  had  four  companions  with  him,  two  friends 
named  Cameron  and  Matthews,  a  stockman,  and  a  black 
boy.  They  followed  the  Tambo  River  down  its  course 
through  fine  grazing  country,  both  plains   and  forest, 


94  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

until  in  due  course  it  led  them  to  the  point  of  its 
embouchure  in  the  lakes  of  the  south  coast.  He  named 
Lake  Victoria,  and  then  directed  his  course  to  the  west, 
where  he  discovered  and  named  the  Nicholson  and 
Mitchell  rivers.  He  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the 
resemblance  of  the  country  he  had  just  been  over  to  some 
parts  of  Scotland,  that  he  called  the  district  by  the  now 
obsolete  name  of  ''Caledonia  Australis."  On  January 
the  23rd,  1840,  he  was  out  again  and  discovered  and  named 
the  Macallister  Eiver,  and  pushed  on  as  far  west  as  the 
La  Trobe  River.  This  addition  of  rich  pastoral 
regions  to  the  already  settled  districts  was  altogether 
due  to  Angas  McMillan's  energy,  and  is  now  known  as 
Gippsland,  being  named  officially  after  Sir  George  Gipps, 
the  Governor  who  had  the  amusing  eccentricity  of 
insisting  that  all  the  towns  laid  out  during  his  term  of 
office  should  have  no  public  squares  included  within  their 
boundaries,  being  convinced  that  public  squares  encour- 
aged the  spread  of  democracy. 

(ii.) — Count  Strzelecki. 

Count  Strzelecki 's  expedition  through  Gippsland  with 
the  discovery  of  which  district  he  is  commonly  and  wrongly 
credited,  was  due  to  the  literary  and  geographical 
work  he  had  undertaken,  as  he  was  gathering  material 
for  his  well-known  work,  ''The  Physical  Description  of 
New  South  Wales,  Victoria,  and  Van  Diemen's  Land." 
He  ascended  the  south-east  portion  of  the  main  dividing 
range,  and  named  the  highest  peak  thereof  Kosciusko, 
after  a  fancied  resemblance  in  its  outline  to  that  Polish 
patriot's  tomb  at  Cracow. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  1840,  he  reached  the  cattle  station 
on  the  Tambo  whither  McMillan  had  just  returned,  and 
was  directed  by  him  on  to  his  newly-discovered  country. 
Strzelecki  pushed  through  to  Western  Port,  meeting  with 
some  scrubby  and  almost  inaccessible  country  during  the 
last  stages  of  his  journey.  His  party  had  to  abandon 
both  horses  and  packs,  and  fight  its  way  through  a 
dense  undergrowth  on  a  scanty  ration  of  one  biscuit  and 


THE    EAELY    FOETIES  95- 

a  slice  of  bacon  per  day,  varied  with  an  occasional  native- 
bear.  It  was  here  that  the  Count,  who  was  an  athletic- 
man,  found  that  his  hardy  constitution  stood  the  party  in 
good  stead.  So  weakened  and  exhausted  were  his^ 
companions,  that  it  was  only  by  constant  encouragement 
that  he  urged  them  along  at  all.  When  forcing  their  way 
through  the  matted  growth  of  scrub,  he  often  threw  him- 
self bodily  upon  it,  breaking  a  path  for  his  weary 
followers  by  the  mere  weight  of  his  body.  It  was  in  a 
wretched  condition  that  they  at  last  reached  Western 
Port. 

(iii.) — Pateick  Leslie. 

In  1840  Patrick  Leslie,  who  has  always  been  considered 
the  father  of  settlement  on  the  Darling  Downs,  started 
with  stock  from  a  New  England  station,  then  the  most 
northerly  settled  district  in  New  South  Wales,  and 
formed  the  first  station  on  the  Condamine  Eiver,  actually 
before  that  river  had  been  identified  as  a  tributary  of 
the  Darling.  There  was  a  general  impression  that  the 
Condamine  flowed  north  and  east,  and  finally  found  its 
way  through  the  main  range  to  the  Pacific.  In  1841, 
Stuart  Eussell,  who  closely  followed  Leslie  as  a  pioneer, 
followed  the  river  down  for  more  than  a  hundred  miles 
to  the  westward,  and  in  the  following  year  it  was  traced 
still  further,  and  the  Darling  generally  accepted  as  its^ 
final  destination. 


( iv. )  — LuD WIG  Leichhaedt. 

Leichhardt  is  the  Franklin  of  Australia,  around  whose 
name  has  ever  clung  a  tantalising  veil  of  mystery 
and  romance.  Truth  to  tell,  his  claim  as  a  leading 
explorer  rests  solely  on  his  first  and  undoubtedly 
fruitful  expedition.  But  for  his  mysterious  fat& 
mention  of  his  name  would  not  stir  the  hearts 
of  men  as  it  does.  Had  he  returned  from  his  final  venture 
beaten,  it  must  have  been  to  live  through  the  remainder 
of  his  life  a  disappointed  and  embittered  man.     Far 


-96 


EXPLORERS   OF   AUSTRALIA 


l^etter  for  one  of  his  temperament  to  rest  in  the 
wilderness,  his  grave  unknown,  but  his  memory  revered. 
Leichhardt  was  born  at  Beskow,  near  Berlin,  and 
studied  at  Berlin.  Through  an  oversight  he  was  omitted 
from  the  list  of  those  liable  to  the  one  year  of  military 
.service,  and  the  sweets   of  exemption  tempted  him  to 

evade  the  three-year  military 
course.  The  consequence  was 
that  he  was  prosecuted  as  a 
deserter,  and  sentenced  in 
contumaciam.  Afterwards, 
Alexander  von  Humboldt 
,^t.^l»  .— — ^  succeeded,  by  describing  his 

Jf\V||^HH  services    to    science    on   his 

^^^m   ^SBP^fc^  ^^^^  expedition  in  Australia, 

^^^K  ^^^        in  obtaining  a  pardon  from 

^^Bk    ""  HP^       ^^^®    King.      By    a    Cabinet 

Order,    Leichhardt    received 

Ludwig  Leichhardt.  pormissiou     to     retum     to 

Prussia  unpunished.     When 

the  order  arrived  in  Australia,  he  had  already  started 

on  his  last  expedition. 

Dr.  Leichhardt  appears  to  have  been  a  man  whose 
■character,  to  judge  from  his  short  career,  was  largely 
•composed  of  contradictions  and  inconsistencies.  Eager 
for  personal  distinction,  with  high  and  noble  aims,  he 
yet  lacked  that  ready  sympathy  and  feeling  of  comrade- 
ship that  attract  men.  Leichhardt 's  followers  never 
desired  to  accompany  him  on  a  second  expedition.  Yet 
strange  to  say,  he  was  capable  of  inspiring  firm  friend- 
•ship  in  such  men  as  William  Nicholson  and  Lieutenant 
Robert  Lynd. 

When  he  left  on  his  first  exploring  expedition,  on  which 
he  was  successful  owing  to  the  luck  of  the  novice,  people 
generally  predicted — and  with  much  reason — that  he 
would  fail.  But  when  he  set  out  on  his  second  and 
-disastrous  journey,  universally  applauded  and  with  his 
name  on  everybody's  lips,  it  was  never  doubted  but  that 
he  would  succeed. 


THE    EARLY    FORTIES 


97 


98  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

On  his  first  expedition  he  was  insufficiently  equipped, 
had  but  inexperienced  men  with  him,  and  was  a  bad 
bushman  himself.  In  fact  the  journal  of  the  trip  reads 
to  a  man  accustomed  to  bush  life,  like  the  fable  of  ''The 
Babes  in  the  Wood ; ' '  yet  he  managed  to  blunder  through. 
On  his  second  expedition  he  was  amply  provided,  and 
most  of  his  companions  were  experienced  men,  but  it 
proved  a  miserable  fiasco. 

His  great  confidence  in  himself  led  him  to  ignore  or 
undervalue  the  fact,  patent  to  others,  that  he  was  no 
bushman  either  by  instinct  or  training.  And  he  seemed 
to  prefer  for  companions  men  like  himself,  who  could  not 
detect  this  failing,  as  is  evident  from  a  letter  written  by 
him  to  W.  Hull,  of  Melbourne,  with  reference  to  a  young 
man  who  was  anxious  to  join  his  party.  In  this  letter 
he  enumerates  the  qualities  that  he  considers  necessary 
in  a  follower: — 

"Activity,  good  humour,  sound  moral  principle, 
elasticity  of  mind  and  body,  and  perfect  willingness  to 
obey  my  orders,  even  though  given  harshly.  .  .  I  have 
been  extremely  unfortunate  in  the  choice  of  my  former 
companions." 

The  last  remark  is  an  unworthy  one,  and  of  course 
applies  to  the  companions  of  his  second  expedition.  He 
does  not  include  a  knowledge  of  open-air  life  amongst  his 
qualifications,  nor  the  needful  bushmanship;  and 
apparently  in  Leichhardt's  opinion,  a  useless  man  of  good 
moral  principle  would  be  as  acceptable  to  an  explorer 
as  a  good  bushman  of  doubtful  morality.  It  causes  one 
to  inquire  whether  the  devoted  men  who  toiled  for 
Sturt,  private  soldiers  and  prisoners  of  the  Crown,  were 
men  of  sound  moral  principle?  This  extract  affords  an 
insight  into  Leichhardt's  failures.  He  wanted  only  those 
men  who  would  blindly  and  ignorantly  obey  and  believe 
in  him.  For  a  man  of  Leichhardt  's  temperament,  such  men 
were  not  to  be  found:  he  had  missed  the  fairy  gift  at 
birth — all  the  essentials  of  good  leadership. 

Stuart  Eussell,  in  his  "Genesis  of  Queensland,"  cites 
his  shrewd  old  stockman's  opinion  of  Dr.  Leichhardt,  as 
he  was  just  before  his  first  trip.    The  station  from  which 


THE    EARLY    FORTIES  99 

Leichhardt  started  on  that  occasion  was  near  Russell 's,  so 
that  the  man  spoke  from  personal  knowledge: — "It's 
my  belief  that  if  Dr.  Leichhardt  do  it  at  all,  'twill  be  more 
by  good  luck  than  management.  Why,  sir,  he  hasn't 
got  the  knack  of  some  of  us;  why  it  comes  like  mother's 
milk  to  some.  I  can't  tell  how  or  why,  but  it  does.  Mark 
my  words,  sir.  Dr.  Leichhardt  hasn't  got  it  in  him,  and 
never  will  have." 

Two  invaluable  qualities  in  an  explorer,  apart  from  his 
scientific  attainments,  Leichhardt  possessed.  These  were 
courage  and  determination;  necessary  no  doubt,  but  not 
sufficient  in  themselves  to  carry  through  an  expedition 
to  success.  He  lacked  tact,  and  was  deficient  in  practical 
knowledge  of  the  bush,  and  especially  in  what  is  known 
as  bushmanship.  One  fixed  idea  of  his  was,  that  in  dry 
country  if  one  can  only  keep  on  far  enough  one  is 
bound  to  come  to  water :  a  theory  plausible  enough  if 
it  could  be  carried  out  to  its  logical  conclusion;  but  the 
application  of  which  often  involves  a  physical  impos- 
sibility. And  it  must  be  taken  into  consideration  that 
Leichhardt  had  never  travelled  in  the  dry  country  of  the 
interior,  but  that  what  small  experience  he  possessed  had 
been  gained  on  the  fairly  well-watered  coast.  He  asserts 
in  his  journal  that  cattle  and  horses  trust  entirely  to  the 
sense  of  vision  for  finding  water,  and  not  to  the  sense 
of  smell.    The  exact  reverse  is  of  Course  the  case. 

The  character  of  the  lost  explorer  will  thus  be  seen  to 
have  militated  strongly  against  his  success  when  he  came 
to  be  pitted  against  the — to  him— unknown  dangers  of  a 
dry  season  in  the  far  interior.  But  his  fatal  self- 
confidence  led  him  to  challenge  the  desert,  thinking  that 
he  must  succeed  where  better  men  had  been  denied 
even  the  hope  of  success.  When  his  last  expedition 
comes  to  be  reviewed,  a  more  detailed  discussion 
of  the  probabilities  of  a  successful  issue  to  it 
will  be  made.  Poor  Leichhardt,  with  all  his  moods  and 
caprices,  it  would  have  been  strange  if  he  had  not  shown 
some  appreciation  of  humour.  Let  us  quote  his 
description  of  his  sudden  and  unexpected  arrival  in 
Sydney,  after  the  Port  Essington  expedition.        '  ■  ■  ' 


100  EXPLORERS  OP  AUSTRALIA 

''We  did  come  to  Sydney,  it  was  quite  dark;  we  did  go 
ashore,  and  then  I  thought  to  see  my  dear  friend  Lynd. 
So  I  went  up  George  Street  to  the  barracks.  And  then 
I  went  to  his  quarters  to  his  window.  He  was  dressing 
himself;  I  did  put  in  my  head;  he  did  jump  out  of  the 
other  window  and  I  stood  tliere  wondering.  Soon  many 
people  did  come  round,  and  did  look.  Oh  so  timid.  I  did 
not  know  all.  And  there  was  such  a  greeting.  I  was 
dead,  and  was  alive  again.    I  was  lost,  and  was  found." 

But  in  thus  reviewing  Leichhardt's  aptitude — or  rather 
inaptitude — for  the  work,  and  commenting  upon  his 
shortcomings^  we  must  do  him  the  fullest  justice  by 
paying  homage  to  the  sincerity  of  his  belief  in  himself 
and  his  mission.  In  that  belief  he  was  honestly  loyal. 
His  conception  of  his  duty  was  of  the  highest,  and  in 
its  interest  he  would,  and  did,  make  every  sacrifice  in 
his  power.  If  some  prescient  tongue  could  have  told 
Leichhardt  that  the  end  of  his  quest  would  be  an  unknown 
death,  he  would  have  accepted  the  fate  without  a  murmur, 
provided  his  death  benefited  geographical  discovery. 

As  the  man  of  science  in  a  party  under  a  capable  leader, 
Leichhardt  would  have  achieved  greater  success  than 
many  men  who  have  filled  that  position;  as  the  leader 
himself  he  was,  of  necessity,  an  absolute  failure. 

Leichhardt  arrived  in  New  South  Wales  in  1842,  and, 
after  some  botanical  excursions  about  the  Hunter  River 
district,  he  travelled  overland  to  Moreton  Bay,  and  there 
occupied  himself  with  short  expeditions  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, pursuing  his  favourite  study  of  physical 
science.  When  the  subject  of  the  exploration  of  the  north 
was  mooted,  he  was  desirous  of  securing  the  position  of 
naturalist,  but  the  delay  in  forming  the  projected 
expedition  disappointed  him,  and  he  resolved  to  try  and 
organise  a  private  one.  In  this  he  received  very  little 
encouragement.  He  persevered,  however,  and  eking  out 
his  own  resources  by  means  of  private  contributions, 
both  in  money  and  stock,  he  managed  to  get  a  party 
together.  On  the  1st  of  October,  1844,  he  left  Jimbour 
station  on  the  Darling  Downs,  on  the  trip  that  was 
destined    to    make    his    name    as    an    explorer.       His 


THE    EARLY    FORTIES  101 

preparations  were  on  a  much  smaller  scale  than 
Mitchell's.  Considering  the  importance  of  the  under- 
taking, his  party  was  absurdly  small.  He  had  with  him 
six  white  and  two  black  men,  seventeen  horses,  sixteen 
head  of  cattle  and  four  kangaroo  dogs;  and  his  supply 
of  provisions  was  equally  meagre.  His  plan  of  starting 
from  Moreton  Bay  to  Port  Essington  differed 
considerably  from.  Mitchell's  proposed  journey  to  the 
Gulf  from  Fort  Bourke,  but  although  longer  and  more 
roundabout,  it  would  be  a  safer  route  for  his  little  party 
to  adopt,  as  they  would  keep  to  the  comparatively  well- 
watered  coastal  lands.  Leaving  the  Condamine,  he 
crossed  the  northern  watershed,  and  struck  the  head  of 
one  of  the  main  tributaries  of  the  Fitzroy  Eiver,  which 
he  named  the  Dawson.  Thence  he  passed  westward  into 
a  region  of  fine  pastoral  country,  which  he  named  the 
Peak  Downs.  Here  he  named  the  minor  waters  of  the 
Planet  and  the  Comet,  and  Zamia  Creek.  On  the  10th 
of  January,  1845,  he  found  the  Mackenzie  River,  and 
thence  crossed  on  to  and  named  the  Isaacs,  a  tributary 
of  the  Fitzroy  coming  from  the  north.  This  river  they 
followed  up  till  they  crossed  the  watershed  on  to  the 
head  waters  of  the  Suttor  River.  They  followed  this 
stream  down  until  it  brought  them  to  the  Burdekin, 
Leichhardt's  most  important  discovery. 

Up  the  valley  of  this  river  they  travelled,  until  they 
reached  the  head,  where,  at  the  Valley  of  Lagoons,  they 
crossed  the  watershed  on  to  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of 
Carpentaria.  Here,  for  some  unknown  reason,  Leichhardt 
went  far  too  much  to  the  north,  which  necessitated  a 
long  detour  around  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the  Gulf. 
It  was  while  they  were  retracing  a  southern  course  along 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  Gulf  that  the  naturalist  Gilbert 
met  his  fate.  Up  to  this  time  they  had  been  so  little 
troubled  with  the  natives  that  they  had  ceased  almost  to 
think  of  a  possible  hostile  encounter  with  them.  This 
fancied  immunity  was  broken  in  a  most  tragic  manner 
on  the  night  of  the  28th  of  June,  1845.  It  was  a  calm, 
quiet  evening,  and  the  party  were  peacefully  encamped 
beside   a   chain   of   shallow   lagoons.      The   doctor   was 


102  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

thinking  out  his  plans  for  the  next  few  days,  Gilbert  was 
planting  a  few  lilies  he  had  gathered,  as  was  his  nightly 
habit  when  any  flowers  were  available,  Roper  and  the 
others  were  grouped  around  the  fire  warding  off  the 
attacks  of  the  mosquitoes.  Suddenly  about  seven  o'clock 
a  shower  of  spears  was  thrown  among  the  unarmed  men, 
and  Gilbert  was  almost  instantly  killed.  Roper  and 
Calvert  being  seriously  wounded.  The  whites  rushed  for 
their  guns,  but  unfortunately  not  one  weapon  was  ready 
capped,  and  it  was  some  time  before  any  of  them  could 
be  discharged,  when  a  volley  caused  the  blacks  to  scamper 
off.  It  is  most  astonishing  that  the  whole  of  the  members 
of  the  party  were  not  cut  down  in  one  dreadful  massacre. 

The  body  of  the  murdered  naturalist  was  buried  at 
the  fatal  camp,  but  the  grave  was  left  unmarked,  and  a 
large  fire  built  and  consumed  above  it  to  hide  all  traces 
of  it  from  the  natives.  The  river  where  this  sad  mishap 
occurred  now  bears  the  name  of  Gilbert. 

From  the  scene  of  this  tragedy,  which  ordinary 
precautions  would  have  avoided,  the  party  proceeded 
around  the  southern  shore  of  the  Gulf,  keeping  a  short 
distance  above  tidal  waters ;  but  their  progress  was  slow 
and  painful  on  account  of  the  two  wounded  men.  Most 
of  Leichhardt's  names  are  still  retained  for  the  rivers  of 
the  Gulf  which  he  crossed,  the  Leichhardt  itself  being  an 
exception.  This  river  he  mistook  for  the  Albert,  so 
named  by  Captain  Stokes  during  his  marine  survey  of 
the  north  coast.  A.  C.  Gregory  rectified  the  error  in 
after  years,  and  gave  the  river  the  name  of  the  lost 
explorer  for  whom  he  was  then  searching.  With  fast- 
dwindling  supplies,  lagging  footsteps,  and  depressed 
spirits,  the  expedition  travelled  slowly  on  to  the  south- 
west corner  of  the  Gulf  where,  in  crossing  a  large  river, 
the  Roper,  four  of  the  horses  were  drowned  in  conse- 
quence of  the  boggy  banks.  This  misfortune  so  limited 
their  means  of  carriage  that  Leichhardt  had  to  sacrifice 
the  whole  of  his  botanical  collection.  On  the  17th  of 
December,  1845,  the  worn-out  travellers,  nearly  destitute 
of  everything,  reached  the  settlement  of  Victoria,  at  Port 


THE    EAKLY    FORTIES  103 

Essington,  and  the  long  journey  of  fourteen  months  was 
over. 

This  expedition,  successful  as  it  was  in  opening  up 
such  a  large  area  of  well-watered  country,  attracted 
universal  attention  both  to  the  gratifying  economic 
results  and  to  the  hitherto  untried  leader.  He  was 
enthusiastically  welcomed  back  to  Sydney,  and  dubbed 
by  journalists  the  prince  of  explorers.  But  what 
captivated  public  fancy  was  a  certain  halo  of  romance 
that  clung  to  the  journey  on  account  of  the  reported  death 
of  Leichhardt,  a  report  that  gained  general  credence. 
His  unexpected  return  invested  him  with  a  romance 
which — fortunately  for  his  reputation — the  total  and 
absolute  disappearance  of  himself  and  company  in  1848 
has  but  the  more  richly  coloured.  Enthusiastic  poets 
gushed  forth  in  song,  and  a  more  substantial  reward  was 
raised  by  public  and  private  subscriptions  and  shared 
among  the  expedition  in  due  proportions. 

Encouraged  by  these  encomiums  on  his  success,  and 
perhaps  a  little  intoxicated  by  the  general  acclamation, 
Leichhardt  now  conceived  the  ambitious  idea  of  traversing 
the  continent  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  shore; 
keeping  as  far  as  possible  on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude. 
This  was  a  bold  project,  coming  as  it  did  so  soon  after 
Sturt  had  returned  to  Adelaide  from  his  excursion  into 
the  interior  with  a  terrible  tale  of  thirst  and  suffering. 
But  this  time  the  hero  of  the  hour  experienced  no 
difficulty  in  ot)taining  funds  and  other  necessary  aids. 
The  party,  when  organised,  travelled  from  the  Hunter 
Eiver  to  the  Condamine,  taking  with  them  their  outfit 
of  mules,  cattle,  and  goats.  When  the  expedition 
departed  from  Darling  Downs,  they  numbered  seven 
white  men  and  two  natives,  with  270  goats,  180  sheep, 
40  bullocks,  15  horses,  and  13  mules.  There  were  besides 
an  ample  outfit  and  provisions  calculated  to  last  the 
explorers  on  a  two  years'  journey;  for  it  was  estimated 
that  the  expedition  would  be  absent  from  civilisation  for 
that  time. 


104  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Instead  of  setting  out  westwards  from  the  initial  point 
in  a  direction  where  Leichhardt  could  reasonably  expect 
fair  travelling  country  for  some  distance,  he  proceeded 
along  his  old  track  north  to  the  Mackenzie  and  Isaacs 
Rivers.  What  induced  him  to  adopt  this  course  is 
uncertain.  He  explained  to  one  of  his  party  that  it  was 
to  verify  some  former  observations ;  or  he  may  have  had 
some  dim  notion  that  by  keeping  to  the  tropical  line  he 
would  gain  some  climatic  assistance.  Whatever  the  cause, 
the  result  was  disastrous.  The  wet  season  and  monsoonal 
rains  caught  the  party  amongst  the  sickly  acacia  scrubs 
of  that  region ;  and  hemmed  in  by  mud  and  bog  they  lost 
their  stock,  consumed  their  provisions,  and  made  no 
progress.  Henceforth  the  narrative  is  one  of  semi-star- 
vation, varied  by  gorging  on  the  days  when  a  beast  was 
killed;  and  wrangles  and  quarrels,  in  which  the  leader 
appeared  in  no  amiable  light.  Medicine  had  been  omitted 
from  the  stores,  and  all  the  covering  they  had  from  the 
torrential  rains  was  provided  by  two  miserable  calico 
tents.  The  6th  day  of  July  found  them  back  on  Chauvel's 
station  on  the  Condamine;  a  sad  contrast  to  the  party 
which  had  aspired  to  cross  the  continent. 

The  onus  of  this  wretched  failure  Leichhardt  tried  to 
cast  upon  his  companions,  upon  whom  he  made  many 
unjust  aspersions.  J.  F.  Mann,  late  of  the  Survey 
Department  of  New  South  Wales,  was  one  of  the 
expedition,  and  the  last  surviving  member  of  any 
expedition  connected  with  Leichhardt.  He  wrote  a 
booklet  in  which  he  vigorously  defends  his  comrades 
and  himself  against  the  unworthy  slurs  cast  at  them  by 
Leichhardt.  Amongst  his  papers  is  a  rough  sketch  from 
life  of  Leichhardt  in  bush  costume. 

On  reaching  the  Condamine,  Leichhardt  was  put  into 
possession  of  the  news  of  Mitchell's  return  and  of  the 
discovery  of  the  Barcoo.  Being  anxious  to  examine  the 
country  lying  between  the  upper  Condamine  and 
Mitchell's  latest  track,  he,  in  company  with  two  or  three 


THE    EARLY    FORTIES 


105 


of  his  late  companions,  left  Cecil  Plains  for  that  purpose ; 
he  went  as  far  as  the  Balonne  River,  crossed  it  and 
returned.  This  doubtless  was  in  view  of  organising 
another  expedition,  with  which  he  evidently  intended  to 
start  in  another  manner,  straight  to  the  westward. 

Still  persisting  and  believing  in  his  capability  of 
leading  an  expedition  across  the  continent,  and  fearful 

that  this  ambitious  project 
might  be  forestalled,  he 
now  made  strong  and 
strenuous  efforts  to  or- 
ganise another  party.  He 
succeeded  at  length,  but 
the  party  was  neither  so 
well  provided,  nor  so 
large,  nor  composed  of 
such  capable  men  as  the 
second. 

In  fact,  very  little  is 
known  of  the  members  that 
composed  it;  the  only 
thing  certain  is  that  it  was 
not  at  all  adapted  for  the 
work  that  lay  before  it.  A 
few  words  of  the  Rev.  W. 
W:  B.  Clarke,  the  well- 
known  geologist,  have 
been  many  times  quoted,  and  they  convey  about  all  that 
is  known  of  the  personnel  of  the  expedition: — 

"The  parties  that  accompanied  Leichhardt  were 
perhaps  little  capable  of  shifting  for  themselves  in  case 
of  any  accident  to  their  leader.  The  second  in  command, 
a  brother-in-law  of  Leichhardt,  came  from  Germany  to 
join  him  before  starting,  and  he  told  me,  when  I  asked 
him  what  his  qualifications  for  the  journey  were,  that  he 
had  been  at  sea  and  had  suffered  shipwrecks,  and  was 
therefore  well  able  to  endure  hardship.  I  do  not  know 
what  his  other  qualifications  were." 


John  Frederick  Mann.    Born  1819,  died  Sep- 
tember 7th,  1907,  at  Sydney.   The  last  survivor 
of  a  Leichhardt  expedition. 


106  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

The  last  sentence  is  very  pregnant,  and  implies  that 
a  very  poor  opinion  of  the  men  as  experienced  bushmen 
was  entertained  by  those  who  saw  them. 

The  lost  expedition  is  supposed  to  have  consisted 
of  six  whites  and  two  blacks;  the  names  known  being 
those  of  the  doctor  himself,  Classen,  Hentig,  Stuart,  and 
Kelly.  He  had  with  him  12  horses,  13  mules,  50  bullocks, 
and  270  goats:  beside  the  utterly  inadequate  allowance 
of  800  pounds  of  flour,  120  pounds  of  tea,  some  sugar 
and  salt,  250  pounds  of  shot,  and  40  pounds  of  powder. 
His  last  letter  is  dated  the  3rd  of  April,  1848,  from 
McPherson's  station  on  the  Cogoon,  but  in  it  he  speaks 
only  of  the  country  he  has  passed  through,  and  nothing 
of  his  intended  route.  Since  the  residents  of  this  then 
outlying  station  lost  sight  of  him,  no  sure  clue  as  to 
the  fate  of  him  and  his  companions  has  ever  come  to 
light.  The  total  evanishment,  not  alone  of  the  men,  but 
of  the  animals — especially  the  mules  and  the  goats— is 
one  of  the  strangest  mysteries  of  our  mysterious  interior. 
Thirst  probably  caused  the  death  of  the  animals,  and  in 
that  case  they  would  have  died  singly  and  apart,  and 
their  remains  would  in  after  years  elude  attention.  A. 
similar  fate  probably  befel  the  men. 

Rumour  has  always  been  rife  as  to  the  locality  of 
Leichhardt's  death,  and  suggestions  the  most  hopelessly 
unlikely  and  inconsistent  have  been  put  forward  and 
seriously  considered.  At  the  same  time,  the  only  two 
reliable  marks,  undoubtedly  genuine  and  fitting  in  in 
every  way  with  Leichhardt's  projected  course  of  travel, 
have  been  neglected. 

Leichhardt  started  from  McPherson's  station  on  the 
Cogoon,  now  perhaps  better  known  as  Muckadilla  Creek. 
There  was  a  rumour,  never  authenticated,  that  after  he 
had  proceeded  nearly  one  hundred  miles  he  sent  back 
a  man  with  a  report  that  he  had  passed  through  some 
splendid  pastoral  land,  but  this  is  not  at  all  likely  to 
be  true.  The  first  indication  of  him  is  then  met  with 
on  the  Barcoo    (Victoria)    whereon  A.   C.   Gregory,  in 


THE    EAELY    FORTIES  107 

tjharge  of  the  Leiclihardt  Search  Expedition,  in  1858, 
found  his  marked  tree  and  other  indications : — 

"Continuing  our  route  along  the  river  (latitude  24 
degrees  35  minutes;  longitude  36  degrees  6  minutes), 
we  discovered  a  Moreton  Bay  ash,  about  two  feet  in 
diameter,  marked  with  the  letter  L  on  the  east  side,  cut 
through  the  bark  about  four  feet  from  the  ground,  and 
near  it  the  stumps  of  some  small  trees  that  had  been 
<mt  with  a  sharp  axe,  also  a  deep  notch  cut  in  the  side 
of  a  sloping  tree,  apparently  to  support  the  ridge-pole 
■of  a  tent,  or  some  similar  purpose;  all  indicating  that 
a  camp  had  been  established  here  by  Leiclihardt 's  party. 
No  traces  of  stock  could  be  found;  this  however  is 
•easily  accounted  for,  as  the  country  had  been  inundated 
last  season." 

There  can  be  little  doubt  about  the  authenticity  of  the 
trace,  and  it  at  once  does  away  with  the  truth  of  the 
stories  told  to  Hovenden  Hely  by  the  blacks  as  to 
Leiclihardt 's  murder  on  the  Warrego  River.  Gregory 
then  went  up  the  Thomson  River  but  found  no  other  mark, 
and  returning,  followed  that  river  and  Cooper's  Creek 
down  to  South  Australia.  This  camp  of  Leiclihardt 's  is 
easily  understood.  Then  follows  an  account  of  the  other 
found  by  the  same  explorer  in  1856,  during  an  earlier 
expedition.  This  was  on  the  upper  waters  of  Elsey 
■Creek,  and  his  description  of  it  runs  as  follows : — 

**The  smoke  of  bush  fires  was  visible  to  the  south,  east, 
and  north,  and  several  trees  cut  with  iron  axes  were 
noticed  near  the  camp.  There  were  also  the  remains  of 
a  hut,  and  the  ashes  of  a  large  fire,  indicating  that  there 
had  been  a  party  encamped  there  for  several  weeks; 
several  trees  from  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter  had 
been  cut  down  with  iron  axes  in  fair  condition,  and  the 
iiiit  built  by  cutting  notches  in  standing  trees  and  resting 
a  large  pole  therein  for  a  ridge.  This  hut  had  been  burnt 
apparently  by  the  subsequent  bush  fires;  and  only  some 
pieces  of  the  thickest  timber  remained  unconsumed. 
Search  was  made  for  marked  trees,  but  none  were  found, 
nor  were  there  any  fragments  of  iron,  leather,  or  other 


108  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

material  of  the  equipment  of  an  exploring  party,  or  of 
any  bones  of  animals  other  than  those  common  ta 
Australia.  Had  an  exploring  party  been  destroyed  there, 
there  would  most  likely  be  some  indications,  and  it  may 
therefore  be  inferred  that  the  party  proceeded  on  its 
journey.  It  could  not  have  been  a  camp  of  Leichhardt's 
in  1845,  as  it  is  100  miles  south-west  of  his  route  to 
Port  Essington,  and  it  was  only  six  or  seven  years 
old,  judging  by  the  growth  of  the  trees;  having  subse- 
quently seen  some  of  Leichhardt's  camps  on  the  Burdekin, 
Mackenzie,  and  Barcoo  Rivers,  a  great  similarity  was 
observed  in  the  mode  of  building  the  hut,  and  its  relative 
position  with  regard  to  the  fire  and  water  supply,  and  the 
position  with  regard  to  the  great  features  of  the  country 
was  exactly  where  a  party  going  westward  would  first 
receive  a  check  from  the  waterless  tableland  between 
the  Eoper  and  Victoria  Eivers,  and  would  probably 
camp  and  reconnoitre  before  attempting  to  cross  to  the 
north-west  coast." 

Leichhardt's  track,  as  far  as  the  Elsey,  seems  tolerably 
plain  and  entirely  in  accordance  with  the  character  of 
the  man  and  his  intentions.  Forced  to  retreat  from  the 
dry  country  west  of  the  Thomson,  he  probably  followed 
that  river  to  its  head,  and  crossing  the  main  watershed 
regained  and  re-pursued  his  track  of  1845,  as  far  as  the 
Eoper,  of  which  river  Elsey  Creek  is  a  tributary.  When 
he  left  the  camp  seen  by  Gregory,  he  would,  going  either 
south-west  or  west,  find  himself  in  the  driest  of  dry 
country,  which  is  even  now  but  sparsely  settled.  And 
there  came  the  end. 

Long  before  the  last  water  they  carried  with  them  had 
been  used,  their  beasts  would  have  all  died,  left  here  and 
there  wherever  they  fell.  So  too  would  the  men. 
Differences  of  opinion  would  have  arisen,  and  some 
would  have  been  for  turning  back,  and  others  for  keeping 
on.  Some  would  have  persisted  in  changing  the  direction 
they  were  following,  and,  led  on  by  some  mad  delirious 
fancy  in  seeing  water  indications  in  some  rock  or  bush, 
would  have  separated  and  staggered  on  to  die  alone. 


THE    EARLY    FORTIES  109 

Their  baggage  would  have  been  left  strewn  over  the 
desert  where  it  had  been  abandoned,  and  the  men,  one  by 
one,  would  have  shared  the  same  fate.  Into  such  a 
waterless  and  barren  region  the  blacks  would  seldom 
penetrate,  and  what  with  the  sun,  hot  winds,  bush  fires, 
and  sand-storms,  all  recognisable  traces  would  soon  have 
been  effaced. 

With  regard  to  the  notched  tree  to  support  a  ridge- 
pole, which  feature  was  noticed  by  Gregory  in  both 
<}amps,  J.  F.  Mann,  of  whose  companionship  with 
Leichhardt  mention  has  already  been  made,  often  stated 
that  he  would  recognise  Leichhardt 's  camps  anywhere,  by 
this  singular  device  for  supporting  the  ridge  of  a  tent. 


Chapter  IX. 
EDMUND  B.  KENNEDY. 


(i.) — The  Victoria  and  Cooper's  Creek. 

E.  B.  Kennedy,  whose  tragic  death  ineffaceably 
branded  the  Cape  York  blacks  as  remorselessly  cruel^ 
came  to  Australia  early  in  life,  and  was  appointed 
a  Government  surveyor  in  1840.     His  first  experience 

as  an  explorer  was 
gained  when  as  Assistant- 
Surveyor  and  second  in 
command  he  accompanied 
his  chief  on  the  last 
expedition  that  Mitchell 
led  into  the  interior.  On 
this  occasion  he  remained 
in  charge  of  the  camp 
formed  at  St.  George's 
Bridge,  and  then  conducted 
part  of  the  expedition  on 
to  the  Maranoa,  where  he 
rejoined  the  Major,  and 
remained  in  charge  whilst 
Mitchell  made  his  explor- 

Edmund  B.  Kennedy.  atloU  WCStward. 

On  Mitchell's  return  to  Sydney,  there  being  some 
doubt  as  to  the  point  of  outflow  of  the  newly-discovered 
Victoria  Eiver,  Kennedy  was  sent  out  with  a  small  party 
to  follow  the  river  down  and  ascertain  its  course  and 
destination. 

On  the  13th  of  August,  he  reached  Mitchell's  lowest 
camp  on  the  Victoria  River,  and  started  to  trace  the 
river  down.     During  the  first  day's  journey  he  came 


EDMUND    B.    KENNEDY  111 

across  some  natives,  from  one  of  whom  lie  learnt  that 
the  aboriginal  name  of  the  river  was  the  Barcoo.  Two 
days  afterwards  he  observed  with  some  anxiety  that  the 
trend  of  the  valley  was  inclining  from  northwards 
towards  the  point  whence  Sturt  had  turned  back  from 
his  upward  course  on  Cooper's  Creek.  As  the  second 
part  of  his  instructions  was  to  find  a  practicable  road 
to  the  Gulf,  he  feared  that  he  would  not  have  sufficient 
provisions  to  fulfil  both  duties.  He  therefore  made  a 
stationary  camp,  and  with  two  men  proceeded  down  the 
river.  But  after  two  days'  journey,  he  found  that  the 
Barcoo  turned  to  the  west,  and  even  north  of  west. 
The  channel  now  showed  large  reaches  of  water  within 
its  confines,  some  of  them  more  than  one  hundred  yards 
in  width.  This  induced  him  to  alter  his  plan,  and  he 
thought  he  should  follow  such  an  important  watercourse 
and  ascertain  its  outflow.  He  therefore  turned  back  for 
the  remainder  of  his  party.  On  the  30th  of  August 
he  discovered  a  large  river  coming  from  the 
N.N.E.,  and  he  named  it  the  Thomson.  With  the 
usual  inconsistency  of  Australian  inland  rivers, 
the  Thomson  soon  presented  another  and  different 
scene.  The  great  pastoral  stretches  of  the  upper 
course  were  left  behind,  and  were  succeeded 
by  flat  and  inferior  country  intersected  by  sand-ridges 
The  course  of  the  river  itself  once  more  turned  to  the 
southward,  and  was  but  scantily  watered.  Still  Kennedy 
persevered  until  convinced  that  further  progress  must 
bring  him  to  vSturt's  furthest  on  Cooper's  Creek.  The 
face  of  the  land  answered  to  Sturt 's  description;  and 
grass  and  feed  both  beginning  to  fail  him,  Kennedy  had 
to  consider  whether  it  was  worth  while  risking  the  lives 
of  his  men  to  confirm  what  was  practically  a  certainty. 
At  last  vistas  of  the  desert,  described  by  Sturt  with  such 
terrible  fidelity,  appeared  stretching  away  to  the  horizon, 
and  Kennedy  turned  back,  satisfied  that  the  Victoria 
River  and  Cooper's  Creek  were  one  and  the  same  stream. 
It  was  now  Kennedy's  intention  to  make  an  excursion 
towards  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria.  On  his  way  down,  in 
order  to  travel  lighter,  he  had  buried  a  large  quantity 


112  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

of  flour  and  sugar  as  well  as  his  drays.  When  he  arrived 
at  the  cache  of  provisions  on  his  way  back,  he  found  that 
the  natives  had  dug  the  rations  up,  and  in  mere  wanton- 
ness had  so  mixed  and  scattered  them  as  to  render  them 
useless.  A  little  further  on,  he  was  just  in  time  to  save 
the  carts,  for  an  aboriginal  was  probing  in  the  ground 
with  a  spear  to  ascertain  their  whereabouts.  During  this 
excursion  Kennedy  noticed  that  the  blacks  were  given 
to  ' '  chewing  tobacco  in  a  green  state ; ' '  but  the  ' '  tobacco ' ' 
was,  of  course,  the  pituri  plant,  which  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  masticate.  By  the  time  he  reached  the  head  of 
the  Warrego,  Kennedy  was  too  short  of  provisions  to 
attempt  his  projected  Gulf  expedition,  and  had  to  make 
homeward,  but  resolved  to  go  down  by  that  river  and 
ascertain  whether  it  joined  the  Darling  or  flowed 
westward. 

The  Warrego  dividing  into  many  dry  channels  when 
they  reached  its  lower  courses,  the  party  struck  eastward 
to  the  Culgoa,  and  reached  that  river  after  a  very 
distressing  stage  over  dry  country  on  which  they  lost 
six  horses  from  heat  and  thirst,  whilst  bringing  the  carts 
across  it. 

(ii.) — A  Tragic  Expedition. 

Kennedy's  first  experience  of  an  independent  exploring 
expedition  in  the  west  was  by  no  means  a  fitting  prelude 
to  the  tragic  journey  he  next  undertook.  The  same 
impulse  that  led  to  Mitchell's  and  Leichhardt's  northern 
journeys  stimulated  Kennedy  to  make  his  dangerous 
journey  up  the  eastern  coast  of  the  long  peninsula  that 
terminates  in  Cape  York — the  desire  to  find  a  road  to 
the  north  coast,  so  that  an  easy  chain  of  communication 
should  exist  between  the  southern  settlements  and  the 
far  north. 

It  was  at  the  end  of  the  month  of  May  that  Kennedy 
landed  at  Eockingham  Bay  with  his  party  of  twelve  men. 
He  had  started  from  Sydney  in  the  barque  ''Tam  o' 
Shanter, ' '  which  was  convoyed  by  Captain  Owen  Stanley 
in  the  ''Alligator."    This  was  in  1848,  the  same  fateful 


EDMUND   B.    KENNEDY  113 

year  that  witnessed  Leiclihardt's  disappearance.  A 
schooner  was  to  meet  the  party  on  the  north,  at  Port 
Albany,  where  it  was  proposed  to  form  a  settlement 
should  the  features  of  the  peninsula  warrant  such  an 
enterprise.  In  actual  point  of  distance  the  task  was  not 
great,  being  a  land  traverse  of  from  three  to  four  hundred 
miles,  allowing  for  deviations.  But  never  were  men  in 
Australia  so  dogged  by  disaster  and  beset  by  danger  as 
were  Kennedy  and  his  followers.  Opposed  by  country 
as  yet  unfamiliar  to  them,  they  found  their  onward  path 
hindered  by  many  totally  unforeseen  conditions.  Eanges 
and  ravines  clothed  with  an  almost  impenetrable  jungle, 
which  was  infested  with  the  venomous  leaves  of  the 
stinging  tree  and  the  hooked  spikes  of  the  lawyer  vine, 
confronted  them.  The  land  was  densely  populated  with 
the  most  savage  and  relentless  natives  on  the  continent, 
who  resented  the  invasion  from  the  outset.  Death  tracked 
them  steadily  throughout,  and  claimed  ten  out  of  the 
thirteen  of  the  devoted  party  as  his  victims. 

The  country  through  which  their  course  lay  is  now 
dotted  with  mining-fields  and  townships,  and  fertile 
spaces  of  tilled  tropical  plantations.  The  coast-line  rich  in 
harbours  is  the  busy  haunt  of  steamers,  and  the  narrow 
waterway  between  the  mainland  and  the  great  barrier 
reef  the  home  of  many  lightships.  But  when  Kennedy 
and  his  party  made  their  pioneer  journey,  the  great 
desolation  of  the  wilderness  beset  them  on  every  side 
from  the  land,  whilst  the  sea  off-shore  held  myriad 
dangers. 

Kennedy  landed  from  the  ''Tarn  o'  Shanter"  at  the 
little  point  that  still  bears  the  jovial  name,  and  bade 
farewell  to  Owen  Stanley  in  good  spirits,  and  with  no 
dread  premonitions.  He  was  fresh  from  the  sun-scorched 
plains  of  the  interior,  and  would  confidently  confront 
whatever  might  lie  before  him.  Scrub  and  swampy 
country  delayed  him  on  his  way  to  the  higher  land  at 
the  foot  of  the  range,  where  he  had  hoped  to  find  better 
travelling  country;  but  the  foothills  were  serried  with 
ravines  and  gullies,  and  the  sides  clothed  with  the  ever- 
present  jungle.     The  horses  and  sheep,  unaccustomed  to 


114  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

the  sour  grasses  of  the  coast  lands  of  northern  Australia, 
pined  and  rapidly  wasted  away.  Their  troubles  were 
augmented  by  acts  of  annoyance,  and  on  one  unfortunate 
occasion,  of  open  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  blacks. 

By  the  18th  of  July,  a  little  over  six  weeks  after  they 
had  left  Rockingham  Bay,  the  sheep  had  been  reduced 
from  one  hundred  to  fifty,  and  the  horses  began  to  fail 
so  rapidly  that  they  had  to  abandon  the  carts,  while  th^ 
men  were  becoming  completely  exhausted  from  the  end- 
less cutting  and  hacking  of  the  scrub.  At  length  they 
surmounted  the  range,  the  backbone  of  the  peninsula, 
and  on  the  western  slope,  amid  the  heads  of  the  rivers 
flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  made  better 
progress.  Kennedy,  however,  adhered  to  his  instructions 
to  examine  the  eastern  slope,  and  recrossed  the  water- 
shed, where  troubles  again  came  thick  upon  him.  One 
after  another  the  horses  began  to  give  in,  and  owing  to 
the  storekeeper's  mismanagement,  they  were  nearly  out 
of  provisions.  On  the  9th  of  December  they  reached 
Weymouth  Bay,  and  Kennedy  determined  to  form  a 
stationary  camp,  and  leaving  there  the  main  body  of 
his  men,  push  forward  to  Port  Albany,  whence  he  would 
send  back  the  schooner  that  was  awaiting  them  with 
relief.  He  selected  seven  men  whom  he  left  in  charge  of 
Carron,  the  naturalist,  and  with  three  men  and  the  heroic 
Jacky-Jacky,  an  aboriginal  of  New  South  Wales,  he 
pushed  on — to  his  death. 

Before  the  departure  the  last  sheep  was  slaughtered, 
and  its  lean  and  miserable  carcase  shared  between  the 
two  parties;  and  with  Carron,  Kennedy  ascended  a  hill 
that  commanded  a  prospect  of  the  country  lying  to  the 
north,  but  could  see  nothing  but  rugged  hills  and  black 
scrub.  He  confided  only  to  Carron  his  gloomy  fore- 
boding that  he  would  never  reach  Albany,  so  disheartened 
were  both  the  men  by  the  prospect.  And  throughout 
those  long  weeks  of  starvation  that  ensued,  Carron 
refrained  from  crushing  all  hope  in  his  comrades  by 
communicating  to  them  Kennedy's  despair  of  relief. 

For  three  weeks  Kennedy  struggled  on,  cutting  his 
path  through  the  scrub,  and,  with  dwindling  strength, 


EDMUND    B.    KENNEDY  115 

clambering  across  the  spurs  of  the  range.  For  the  story 
of  his  struggles  and  eventual  death  Australia  has  had  to 
rely  on  the  report  of  the  only  survivor,  the  faithful 
Jacky-Jacky.  They  reached  Shelburne  Bay,  where  one  of 
the  men  accidentally  shot  himself,  and  became  so  weak 
from  loss  of  blood  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  move. 
As  another  man,  Luff,  was  sick,  Kennedy  left  the  third 
man,  Dunn,  to  attend  to  his  two  comrades,  and  pushed 
on  alone  with  the  native  boy.  He  had  actually  gained  the 
Escape  River,  within  sight  of  Albany  Island,  when  his 
fate  overtook  him,  and,  surrounded  by  the  blood-thirsty 
foes  who  had  so  long  and  persistently  hung  upon  his 
footsteps,  he  fell  at  last  beneath  their  spears. 

The  story  is  best  told  in  Jacky's  own  words,  although 
it  has  been  often  repeated.  They  had  come  across  some 
natives  whom  Kennedy  was  inclined  to  trust,  but  of  whom 
Jacky  was  suspicious,  and  that  night  they  camped  in  the 
scrub,  foodless  and  tireless. 

''I  and  Mr.  Kennedy,"  said  Jacky,  '^ watched  them 
that  night,  taking  it  in  turns  every  hour  that  night.  By 
and  by  I  saw  the  blackfellows.  It  was  a  moonlight  night, 
and  I  walked  up  to  Mr.  Kennedy  and  said:  'There  is 
plenty  of  blackfellows  now;'  this  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
night.    Mr.  Kennedy  told  me  to  get  my  gun  ready. 

"The  blacks  did  not  know  where  we  slept,  as  we  did  not 
make  a  fire.  We  both  sat  up  all  night.  After  this  daylight 
came  and  I  fetched  the  horses  and  saddled  them.  Then 
we  went  a  good  way  up  the  river,  and  then  we  sat  down 
a  little  while,  and  then  we  saw  three  blackfellows  coming 
along  our  track,  and  then  they  saw  us,  and  one  ran  back, 
as  hard  as  he  could  run,  and  fetched  up  plenty  more,  like 
a  flock  of  sheep  almost.  I  told  Mr.  Kennedy  to  put  the 
saddles  on  the  horses  and  go  on,  and  the  blacks  came  up 
and  they  followed  us  all  day.  All  along  it  was  raining. 
I  now  told  him  to  leave  the  horses  and  come  on  without 
them,  that  horses  made  too  much  track.  Mr.  Kennedy 
was  too  weak,  and  would  not  leave  the  horses.  We  went 
on  this  day  until  the  evening ;  raining  hard  and  the  blacks 
followed  us  all  day,  some  behind,  some  planted  before. 
In  fact,  blackfellows  all  round  following  us.     Now  we 


116  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

went  into  a  little  bit  of  scrub,  and  I  told  Mr.  Kennedy  to 
look  behind  always.  Sometimes  he  would  do  so,  and 
sometimes  he  would  not  do  so  to  look  out  for  the  blacks. 
Then  a  good  many  blackfellows  came  behind  in  the  scrub 
and  threw  plenty  of  spears,  and  hit  Mr.  Kennedy  in  the 
back  first.  Mr.  Kennedy  said  to  me:  'Oh  Jacky!  Jacky! 
shoot  'em!  shoot  'em!'  then  I  pulled  out  my  gun  and 
fired  and  hit  one  fellow  all  over  the  face  with  buck-shot. 
He  tumbled  down  and  got  up  again  and  again,  and 
wheeled  right  round,  and  two  blacks  picked  him  up  and 
carried  him  away.  They  went  a  little  way  and  came  back 
again,  throwing  spears  all  round,  more  than  they  did 
before — very  large  spears. 

"I  pulled  out  the  spear  at  once  from  Mr.  Kennedy's 
back,  and  cut  the  jag  with  Mr.  Kennedy's  knife.  Then  Mr. 
Kennedy  got  his  gun  and  snapped,  but  the  gun  would  not 
go  off.  The  blacks  sneaked  all  around  by  the  trees,  and 
speared  Mr.  Kennedy  again,  in  the  right  leg  above  the 
knee  a  little,  and  I  got  speared  in  the  eye,  and  the  blacks 
were  now  throwing  always,  never  giving  over,  and  shortly 
again  speared  Mr.  Kennedy  again  in  the  right  side. 
There  were  large  jags  in  the  spears,  and  I  cut  them  off 
and  put  them  in  my  pocket.  At  the  same  time  we  got 
speared  the  horses  got  speared  too,  and  jumped  and 
bucked  about  and  got  into  the  swamps.  I  now  told  Mr. 
Kennedy  to  sit  down  while  I  looked  after  the  saddle-bags, 
which  I  did,  and  when  I  came  back  again  I  saw  the  blacks 
along  with  Mr.  Kennedy.  I  then  asked  him  if  he  saw  the 
blacks  with  him.  He  was  stupid  with  the  spear  wounds, 
and  said  *No';  I  then  asked  him  where  was  his  watch? 
I  saw  the  blacks  taking  away  watch  and  hat  as  I  was 
returning  to  Mr.  Kennedy.  Then  I  carried  Mr.  Kennedy 
into  the  scrub.  He  said,  'Don't  carry  me  a  good  way.' 
Then  Mr.  Kennedy  looked  this  way,  very  bad  (Jacky 
rolling  his  eyes).  I  asked  him  often,  'are  you  well  now?' 
and  he  said — 'I  don't  care  for  the  spear  wound  in  my 
leg,  Jacky,  but  for  the  other  two  spear  wounds  in  my 
side  and  back,  and  I  am  bad  inside,  Jacky!'  I  told  him 
blackfellow  always  die  when  he  got  spear  wound  in  there 
(the  back).    He  said:  'I  am  out  of  wind,  Jacky.'    I  asked 


EDMUND   B.    KENNEDY 


117 


Wild  Blacks  of  Cape  York  signalling 


118  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

him:  *Are  you  going  to  leave  me?'  And  he  said,  'Yes, 
my  boy;  I  am  going  to  leave  you;  I  am  very  bad,  Jacky, 
you  take  the  books,  Jacky,  to  the  Captain,  but  not  the 
big  ones ;  the  Governor  will  give  you  anything  for  them. ' 
I  then  tied  up  the  papers.  He  then  said :  '  Jacky,  give  me 
paper  and  I  will  write.'  I  gave  him  pencil  and  paper, 
and  he  tried  to  write,  and  he  then  fell  back  and  died, 
and  I  caught  him  in  my  arms  and  held  him;  and  I  then 
turned  round  myself  and  cried.  I  was  crying  a  good 
while  until  I  got  well ;  that  was  about  an  hour,  and  then 
I  buried  him. 

'  *  I  digged  up  the  ground  with  a  tomahawk,  and  covered 
him  over  with  logs  and  grass,  and  my  shirt  and  trousers. 
That  night  I  left  him  near  dark.  I  would  go  through 
the  scrub  and  the  blacks  threw  spears  at  me;  a  great 
many;  and  I  went  back  into  the  scrub.  Then  I  went 
down  the  creek  which  runs  into  Escape  River,  and  I 
walked  along  the  water  in  the  creek,  very  easy,  with  my 
head  only  above  water,  to  avoid  the  blacks,  and  get  out  of 
their  way.  In  this  way  I  went  half-a-mile.  Then  I  got 
out  of  the  creek,  and  got  clear  of  them,  and  walked  all 
night  nearly,  and  slept  in  the  bush  without  a  fire." 

At  the  southern  entrance  of  Albany  Pass,  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  spots  of  the  east  coast  of  Australia, 
the  schooner  ''Ariel"  lay  at  anchor,  awaiting,  day  after 
day,  some  signal  to  indicate  the  arrival  of  the  expected 
Kennedy.  One  day  the  look-out  man  announced  that 
there  was  an  aboriginal  on  the  mainland  making  urgent 
signals  to  the  schooner.  There  was  nothing  unusual  in 
this,  for  during  the  delay  and  tedious  waiting,  the  blacks 
had  constantly  been  seen  making  gestures  on  the  shore. 
An  examination  through  the  glass,  however,  showed  the 
people  on  the  "Ariel"  that  this  blackfellow  was  making 
such  vehement  and  persistent  signals  that  it  was  thought 
worth  while  to  send  the  boat  in  to  investigate  affairs. 

No  wonder  the  poor  fellow's  signals  were  urgent  and 
vehement;  he  was  Jacky- Jacky,  who,  thirteen  days 
after  Kennedy's  death,  by  devious  twistings  and 
windings,  occasionally  climbing  a  tree  in  the  hope  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  the  schooner,  and  existing  on  roots 


EDMUND    B.    KENNEDY  119 

and  vermin,  had  at  last  reached  the  goal.  But  when  he 
stood  prominently  on  the  shore  to  signal  to  the  schooner, 
his  relentless  pursuers  sighted  him,  and  his  frantic 
signs  were  for  rescue  from  imminent  peril.  The  boat's 
crew  fortunately  recognised  the  emergency,  and  a  smart 
race  ensued  between  them  and  the  natives.  The  rescuers 
won,  and  Jacky-Jacky  was  saved  to  tell  his  melancholy 
story. 

There  was  no  time  lost  on  board  the  "Ariel."  There 
were  three  men  who  might  be  still  alive  at  Shelburne 
Bay,  and  eight  more  starving  at  Weymouth  Bay. 
Kennedy  was  dead;  their  duty,  and  urgent  duty  it  was, 
lay  with  the  living.  At  once  the  schooner  commenced  to 
beat  down  the  coast,  and  at  Shelburne  Bay  they  landed 
but  failed  to  find  the  camp.  But  they  seized  a  native 
canoe  which  bore  sufficient  evidence  that  the  men  had 
been  murdered.  Clearly  time  must  not  be  wasted  in 
inflicting  punishment;  according  to  Jacky's  account,  the 
men  at  Weymouth  Bay  were  absolutely  starving,  if  they 
had  not  already  succumbed  to  famine. 

After  their  leader  had  left  Weymouth,  Carron  had 
shifted  the  camp  on  to  the  nearest  hill,  as  it  was  more 
open  and  less  exposed  to  the  treacherous  attacks  of  the 
natives.  A  flagstaff  was  erected  on  the  crest,  in  view  of 
the  Bay.  Then  the  party  had  only  to  sit  down  and  await 
the  coming  of  the  grim  shadow  following  them  through 
the  jungle  to  strike  them  with  the  death  chill.  They  had 
two  skeletons  of  horses  and  two  gaunt  dogs,  and  a  tiny 
remnant  of  .flour.  The  men  gave  themselves  up  to  moody 
despondency.  ''Wearied  out  by  long  endurance  of  trials 
that  would  have  shaken  the  courage  and  tried  the 
fortitude  of  the  strongest,"  says  Carron  in  his  diary, 
"a  sort  of  sluggish  indifference  prevailed  that  prevented 
the  development  of  those  active  energies  which  were 
necessary  to  support  us  in  our  present  critical  position." 

One  of  the  two  horses  was  killed,  and  its  scanty  flesh, 
cut  into  strips,  was  dried  in  the  sun  and  smoke.  This, 
the  most  repellant,  sapless  food  to  be  found  in  the  world, 
had  been  their  diet  for  some  time.  Douglas  was  the  first 
to  die.     The  survivors  were  still  strong  enough  to  give 


120  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

him  burial.  In  a  few  days  Taylor  followed  him  and  was 
interred  by  his  side.  The  blacks  threatened  them  contin- 
ually, though  at  times  they  would  lay  down  their  arms 
and  bring  pieces  of  fish  and  turtle  into  the  camp;  but 
this  only  the  better  to  spy  out  their  weakness.  Carpenter 
was  the  next  to  succumb,  and  on  the  1st  of  December 
they  were  doomed  to  drink  their  bitterest  cup  to  the 
dregs.  They  had  killed  the  remaining  horse,  but  the 
monsoonal  rains  descended,  and  in  the  steamy  atmosphere 
the  meat  turned  putrid.  Torn  with  anxiety,  Carron  was 
dejectedly  mounting  the  look-out  to  the  flagstaff  when  he 
caught  sight  of  a  vessel  beating  into  the  Bay.  The  sudden 
change  from  despair  to  relief  was  overwhelming. 
Kennedy  must  have  reached  Port  Albany,  and  had 
doubtless  sent  the  '' Bramble"  to  rescue  them.  With 
eager,  tremulous  hands  he  hoisted  a  pre-arranged  signal 
to  warn  them  against  the  blacks.  Darkness  fell  and  they 
kept  a  fire  burning,  and  fired  off  rockets,  and  when 
daylight  came  and  a  boat  was  lowered  from  the  schooner, 
they  felt  no  misgivings.  Time  passed,  and  Carron  again 
ascended  the  look-out.  What  he  saw  nearly  blasted  his 
eyesight.  The  schooner  was  standing  out  to  sea ;  he  was 
just  in  time  to  see  her  round  the  point  and  disappear. 

They  strove  to  persuade  themselves  that  it  was  not 
the  ''Bramble,"  a  relief  schooner  that  was  supposed  to 
cruise  along  the  coast.  But  it  assuredly  had  been  the 
''Bramble,"  and  her  men  had  not  seen  the  signals  against 
the  gloomy  background  of  scrub  and  hills.  They  knew 
nothing  of  Kennedy's  death,  nor  of  Carron 's  plight.  The 
agony  of  this  disappointment  must  have  been  more  bitter 
than  death.  Mitchell  was  the  next  to  die,  and  the 
survivors  were  too  weak  to  give  him  burial.  Then  Niblett 
and  Wall  departed,  but  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  relief 
came  to  the  remaining  two. 

Some  natives  suddenly  brought  Carron  a  dirty  note,  to 
say  that  help  was  coming,  and  he  saw  by  their  gestures 
that  there  was  a  vessel  in  the  bay.  He  scribbled  a  note  in 
reply,  but  they  refused  to  take  it,  and  began  to  crowd 
into  the  camp  and  handle  their  weapons.  They  were  not 
going  to  be  baulked  of  their  prey.    At  the  very  moment 


EDMUND    B.    KENNEDY  121 

when  they  were  poising  their  spears,  the  relief  party 
arrived.  Four  brave  men — Captain  Dobson  of  the 
''Ariel,"  Dr.  Vallack,  Barrett  a  sailor,  and  the  eager 
Jacky-Jacky- — had  forced  their  way  through  mangroves 
and  hostile  threatening  natives  to  snatch  them  from  their 
doom. 

Nothing  could  be  carried  away  but  the  two  famished 
men,  and  they  were  helped  down  to  the  boat  without 
coming  into  active  hostilities.  Thus  ended  the  most 
disastrous  expedition  in  Australian  annals.  Kennedy's 
body  was  never  recovered,  nor  was  the  fate  of  the  men 
at  Shelburne  Bay  revealed.  The  bodies  at  Weymouth 
Bay  were  re-buried  on  Albany  Island,  and  a  tablet  was 
erected  in  memory  of  Kennedy,  in  St.  James's  Churchy 
Sydney. 


Chapter  X. 
LATER  EXPLORATION  IN  THE  NORTH-EAST. 


(i.) — Walker  in  Search  of  Burke  and  Wills. 

Frederick  Walker  commenced  his  bush  career  as  a 
pioneer  squatter  in  the  districts  of  Southern  Queensland, 
but  afterwards  made  his  residence  near  the  centre,  where 
he  joined  the  Native  Police.  He  had  long  bush  experience, 
was  a  firm  believer  in  the  training  of  the  natives  in 
quasi-military  duty,  and  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in 
the  formation  of  the  Queensland  Native  Police.  On  this 
relief  expedition,  the  party  was  composed  almost  entirely 
of  Native  Police  troopers  under  his  leadership. 

On  receiving  his  commission,  he  pushed  rapidly  out  to 
the  Barcoo,  and,  near  the  Thomson  River,  came  upon 
another  tree  marked  Ij.  This  might  have  been  made  by 
Leichhardt.  He  ascended  the  main  watershed,  and  crossed 
it  coming  down  on  to  the  head  of  the  Flinders  River. 
Here  he  experienced  many  hindrances  arising  from  the 
rough  basaltic  nature  of  the  country  that  borders  the 
northern  head-waters  of  that  river.  When  he  finally 
debouched  upon  the  wide  western  plains,  he  crossed  the 
Flinders,  without  recognising  it  as  the  main  branch,  in 
the  search  for  which  he  went  on  northward.  Approaching 
the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  he  had  several  encounters  with 
the  aboriginals.  As  he  neared  the  coast,  the  bend  of  the 
Flinders  brought  that  river  again  across  his  route,  and 
it  was  then  that  he  came  on  some  camel  tracks,  which 
assured  him  that  the  missing  party,  the  object  of  his 
search,  had  at  any  rate  reached  the  Gulf  safely.  On  his 
outward  way  Walker  may  be  said  to  have  pursued  a 
course  parallel  with  that  of  the  Flinders,  a  little  further 
to  the  northward. 


LATEE    EXPLOKATION    IN    THE    NORTH-EAST  123 

He  pushed  on  to  the  Albert  River,  to  replenish  his 
provisions  at  the  depot  provided  for  the  use  of  the 
various  relief  parties.  He  arrived  there  safely,  after 
having  had  two  more  skirmishes  with  the  blacks  on  the 
way.  He  reported  the  finding  of  the  camel  tracks,  and 
having  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Burke  and  Wills  had 
probably  made  for  the  Queensland  settlements,  he  decided 
to  follow  them  thither.  He  traced  out  a  tributary  of  the 
Flinders,  the  Saxby,  on  his  homeward  route,  but  saw  no 
more  of  the  camel  tracks,  and  finally  crossed  the  water- 
shed on  to  the  rough  basaltic  country  at  the  head  of  the 
Burdekin.  Here  his  horses  suffered  so  severely  from  the 
rugged  nature  of  the  country,  that  by  the  time  they 
reached  Strathalbyn,  a  station  on  the  lower  Burdekin, 
the  whole  of  the  party  were  well-nigh  horseless,  as  well 
as  almost  out  of  provisions. 

Walker  was  afterwards  engaged  by  the  Queensland 
Oovernment  to  mark  out  a  course  for  a  telegraph  line 
hetween  Rockingham  Bay  and  the  mouth  of  the  Norman 
River  in  Carpentaria.  This  work  he  carried  out 
successfully;  but  when  at  the  Gulf,  he  was  attacked  by 
the  prevalent  malarial  fever,  and  died  there. 

(ii.) — Burdekin  and  Cape  York  Expeditions. 

The  main  portion  of  eastern  Australia  was  now  fairly 
well-known;  it  had  been  crossed  from  south  to  north, 
and  from  east  to  west,  and  it  was  only  the  elongated  spur 
of  the  Cape  York  peninsula  that  stood  in  urgent  need 
of  detailed  exploration. 

Amongst  what  may  be  called  the  minor  pastoral 
expeditions  of  that  period,  was  one  conducted  by  G.  E. 
Dalrymple,  who  penetrated  the  coastal  country  north  of 
Rockhampton  as  far  north  as  the  Burdekin,  In  1859  he 
followed  that  river  down  to  the  sea,  and  found  that  the 
mouth  had  been  located  further  to  the  south  than  was 
really  the  case.  His  party  then  struck  inland,  examined 
the  head  of  that  river,  and  found  the  Valley  of  Lagoons. 
The  following  year  another  party,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Cunningham,   Somer,   and    three   others,    explored    the 


124 


EXPLORERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 


tributaries  of  the  Upper  Burdekin,  and  opened  up  several 
good  tracts  of  pastoral  country.  The  permanent  running 
stream  which  flows  through  a  rugged  wall  of  basalt  into 
an  ana-branch  of  the  Burdekin,  was  first  noticed  by  this 
party,  and  called  Fletcher's  Creek. 

Frank  and  Alec  Jardine  jointly  led  up  the  Cape  York 
Peninsula  an  expedition  that  in  its  hardships  and 
dangers  emulated  that  of  Kennedy's,  but  fortunately 
without  a  tragic  ending.  The  year  1863  was  one  of  great 
activity  in  the  northern  part  of  eastern  Australia.     At 

Cape  York,  the  Imperial 
Government  had,  on  the 
recomrnendation  of  Sir 
George  Bowen,  the  first 
Governor  of  Queensland, 
decided  to  form  a  settle- 
ment. John  Jardine,  the 
police  magistrate  of  the 
central  town  of  Rock- 
hampton,  was  selected  to 
take  charge,  and  a  detach- 
ment of  marines  was  sent 
out  to  be  stationed  there. 
Somerset,  the  new  settle- 
ment, was  formed  on  the 
Albany  Pass,  opposite  to 
the  island  of  the  same  name. 
Jardine  was  to  proceed  by  sea  to  his  new  sphere  of  office, 
but,  anticipating  the  want  of  fresh  meat  at  the  proposed 
station,  he  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  the 
Government  whereby  his  two  sons  were  to  take  a  small 
herd  of  cattle  thither  overland,  and  on  the  way  make 
careful  observations  of  the  land  through  which  they  were 
to  pass.  Somerset  was  situated  near  the  scene  of 
Kennedy's  death,  and  knowing  what  tremendous 
difficulties  that  explorer  had  met  with  on  the  eastern 
shore,  it  was  decided  that  the  expedition  should  attempt 
to  follow  the  western  shore  through  the  unknown  country 
that  faced  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria.  Both  the  Jardine 
brothers  were  quite  young  men  at  the  time  when  they 


Frank  L.  Jardine. 


I^TER    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    NORTH-EAST  125 

started  on  their  exceedingly  adventurous  trip,  which 
combined  cattle-droving  with  exploration;  Frank,  the 
accepted  leader,  being  only  twenty-two  years  old,  and  his 
brother  Alexander  but  twenty.  Their  father  had  come 
from  Applegarth,  in  Dumfriesshire;  they  had  both  been 
born  near  Sydney,  and  had  been  educated  by  private 
tutors  and  at  the  Sydney  Grammar  School. 

They  took  with  them  A.  J.  Eichardson,  a  surveyor 
sent  by  the  Government,  Scrutton,  Binney,  Cowderoy, 
and  four  natives.  The  stock  consisted  of  forty- two 
horses  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  cattle.  The 
cheerful  acceptance  of  this  hazardous  enterprise  by  these 
youths  was  a  fine  indication  of  adventurous  spirit,  and 
reflects  great  credit  on  their  courage  and  the  courage 
of  the  native-born.  The  fate  of  the  last  explorer  who 
dared  to  face  the  perils  of  the  Peninsula  would  have 
deterred  any  but  the  boldest  from  taking  up  his  task. 

Before  the  final  start  from  Carpentaria  Downs,  then 
the  furthest  station  to  the  north,  supposed  to  be  situated 
on  Leichhardt's  Lynd  River,  Alec  Jardine  made  a  trip 
ahead  in  order  to  secure  knowledge  of  an  available 
road  for  the  cattle,  and  save  delay  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  the  main  journey.  On  this  preliminary  observational 
excursion,  he  followed  the  presumed  Lynd  down  for 
nearly  180  miles,  until  he  was  convinced  that  neither  in 
appearance,  direction,  nor  position  did  it  correspond  with 
the  river  described  by  Leichhardt.  On  the  subsequent 
journey  with  the  cattle,  this  conviction  was  found  to  be 
in  accordanice  with  fact,  for  the  stream  was  then  proved 
to  be  a  tributary  of  the  Gilbert,  now  known  as  the 
Einnesleigh. 

On  the  11th  of  October  the  final  start  was  made,  and 
the  party  commenced  a  journey  seldom  equalled  in 
Australia  for  peril  and  adventure.  The  head  of  the 
Einnesleigh  was  amongst  rough  ranges,  and  on  the  22nd 
of  the  month  they  halted  the  cattle  while  they  conducted 
another  search  for  the  invisible  Lynd.  They  found  other 
good-sized  creeks,  but  no  Lynd,  nor  did  they  ever  see  it. 
They  afterwards  found  that,  owing  to  an  error  in  the 


126 


EXPLORERS   OF   AUSTRALIA 


map  they  had  with  them,  the  Lynd  was  placed  30  miles 
out  of  position.  A  misfortune  happened  at  the  outset  of 
their  expedition.  In  the  morning  a  large  number  of 
horses  were  missing.  Leaving  some  of  the  party  to  stay 
behind  and  look  for  them,  the  two  brothers  and  the 
remainder  went  on  with  the  cattle.  On  the  second  day 
they  arrived  at  a  large  creek,  without  having  been  over- 
taken by  the  party  with  the  missing  horses  and  the- 
pack-horses.  After  an  anxious  day  spent  in  waiting, 
Alec  Jardine  started  back  to  find  out  the  cause  of  the 

delay.  He  met  the  missing- 
party,  who  were  bringing- 
bad  news  with  them. 
Through  carelessness  in 
allowing  the  grass  round 
the  camp  to  catch  fire^ 
half  of  their  rations  and 
nearly  the  whole  of  their 
equipment  had  been  burnt. 
In  addition,  one  of  the 
most  valuable  of  their 
horses  had  been  poisoned. 
This  terrible  misfortune^ 
coming  at  such  an  early 
stage  of  their  journey 
when  they  had  all  the  un- 
known country  ahead  of 
them,  seriously  imperilled 
the  success  of  their  under- 
taking. But  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  to  bear  it  with  what  equanimity  they 
could  muster. 

The  Cape  York  natives  now  seemed  to  rejoice  that  they 
had  another  party  of  white  men  to  dog  to  death.  Once 
about  twenty  of  them  appeared  about  sundown  and  boldly 
attacked  the  camp  with  showers  of  spears.  Two  days 
afterwards,  they  surprised  the  younger  Jardine  when 
alone,  and  he  had  to  fight  hard  for  his  life.  The  creek 
they  had  been  following  down  led  them  on  to  the  Staaten 


Alec  W.  Jardine. 


LATER    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    NORTH-EAST  127 

River,  where  the  blacks  succeeded  in  stampeding  their 
horses,  and  it  was  days  before  some  of  them  were 
recovered. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  they  left  this  ill-omened  river, 
and  steered  due  north.  Bad  luck  still  haunted  them; 
tortured  by  flies,  mosquitoes,  and  sand-flies,  their  horses 
scattered  and  rambled  incessantly.  While  the  brothers 
were  absent,  searching  one  day  for  the  horses,  the  party 
at  the  camp  allowed  the  solitary  mule  to  stray  away  with 
its  pack  on.  The  mule  was  never  found  again,  and  it 
carried  with  it,  in  its  pack,  some  of  their  most  necessary 
articles,  reducing  them  nearly  to  the  same  state  of 
deprivation  as  their  determined  enemies,  the  aboriginals. 
Two  more  horses  went  mad,  through  drinking  salt  water ; 
one  died,  and  the  other  was  so  ill  that  he  had  to  be 
abandoned.  On  the  13th  of  December  they  reached  the 
Mitchell  River,  not  without  having  had  another  hot  battle 
with  the  blacks,  who  followed  them  day  after  day, 
watching  for  every  opportunity  and  displaying  the  same 
relentless  hostility  that  they  had  formerly  shown  to 
Kennedy.  "Whilst  the  party  were  on  the  Mitchell,  the 
natives  mustered  in  force  and  fell  upon  the  explorers 
with  the  greatest  determination.  After  a  severe  contest, 
in  which  heavy  loss  had  been  inflicted  upon  the  savages, 
they  sullenly  and  reluctantly  retired.  From  what  was 
afterwards  gathered  from  the  semi-civilised  natives  about 
Somerset,  these  tribes  followed  the  Jardines  for  nearly 
400  miles.  This  perseverance  and  inappeasable  enmity 
had  been  equalled  before  only  by  the  Darling  natives. 
It  can  be  imagined  how  these  incessant  attacks,  combined 
with  the  harassing  nature  of  the  country,  gave  the  party 
all  they  could  do  to  hold  their  own,  and  but  for  the 
prompt  and  plucky  manner  in  which  the  attacks  were  met, 
not  one  of  them  would  have  survived. 

After  crossing  the  Mitchell,  steering  north,  they  got 
into  poor  country,  thinly-grassed  and  badly-watered, 
with  the  natives  still  hanging  on  their  flanks.  On  the 
28th  of  December,  the  blacks  began  to  harass  the  horses, 
and  another  hard  struggle  took  place.  Storms  of  rain 
now  set  in,  and  they  had  to  travel  through  dismal  tea-tree 


128  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

flats,  with  the  constant  expectation  of  being  caught  by 
a  flood  in  the  low-lying  country. 

In  Januar}^,  they  had  a  gleam  of  hope.  On  the  5th 
they  came  to  a  well-grassed  valley,  with  a  fine  river 
running  through  it,  which  they  named  the  Archer.  On 
the  9th  they  crossed  another  river,  which  they  supposed 
to  be  the  one  named  the  Coen  on  the  seaward  side.  But 
once  across  this  river,  troubles  gathered  thick  again; 
the  rain  poured  down  constantly,  the  country  became  so 
boggy  that  they  could  scarcely  travel,  and  to  crown  all 
their  misfortunes,  two  horses  were  drowned  when 
crossing  the  Batavia,  and  six  others  were  poisoned  and 
died  there. 

Fate  seemed  now  to  have  done  her  worst,  and  the 
explorers  faced  the  future  manfully.  Burying  all  that 
they  could  dispense  with,  they  packed  all  their  remaining 
horses  and  started  resolutely  to  finish  the  journey  on 
foot.  On  the  14th  two  more  of  their  horses  died,  and  the 
blacks  once  more  came  up  behind  to  reconnoitre.  As  may 
be  imagined,  the  whites  were  not  in  a  patient  humour, 
and  this  last  skirmish  was  brief  and  severe. 

On  the  17th  two  more  horses  died  from  the  effects  of 
the  poison  plant.  Fifteen  only  were  left  out  of  the 
forty-two  with  which  they  had  started.  They  were  now 
approaching  the  narrow  point  of  the  Cape,  and  found 
themselves  on  a  dreary  waste  of  barren  country  whereon 
only  heath  grew,  and  which  was  intersected  with  boggy 
creeks. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  they  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
sea  from  the  top  of  a  tree,  and  on  the  20th  they  were  in 
full  view  of  it.  As  they  went  on,  they  were  entangled  in 
the  same  kind  of  scrub  that  baffled  Kennedy,  and  at  last 
on  the  29th,  after  some  days  of  scrub-cutting,  it  was 
determined  to  halt  the  cattle,  whilst  the  brothers  should 
push  on  to  Somerset  in  the  endeavour  to  find  a  more 
practicable  track.  In  the  tangled,  scrubby  country 
through  which  they  had  passed,  it  had  been  difficult  to 
form  a  true  conception  of  the  distance,  and  their  estimate 
of  twenty  miles  for  the  distance  separating  them  from  the 
settlement  was  much  too  short. 


LATER    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    NORTH-EAST  129 

On  the  30th  of  January,  the  two  Jardines  and  their 
most  trusted  black  boy,  Eulah,  started  to  find  the  settle- 
ment. For  a  time  they  were  hemmed  in  by  a  bend  of 
what  they  took  to  be  the  Escape  Eiver,  but  on  getting 
clear  of  it,  they  were  surprised  to  come  to  another  large 
and  swollen  river,  which  apparently  ran  into  the  Grulf. 
This  forced  them  to  return.  After  a  few  days '  rest,  they 
made  a  second  vain  attempt.  Hemmed  in  by  impassable 
morasses  and  impenetrable  thickets,  in  some  places  they 
were  cut  off  from  approaching  even  the  river,  by 
formidable  belts  of  mangroves.  In  fact,  the  Jardine 
Eiver,  as  it  is  now  called,  heads  almost  from  the  eastern 
shore,  from  Pudding  Pan  Hill  in  fact,  Kennedy's  fatal 
camp.  It  overlaps  the  Escape  Eiver,  and  after  many 
devious  windings  and  twistings,  flows  across  the  Cape, 
out  on  to  the  Gulf  shore. 

It  was  not  until  the  end  of  February  that,  on  the 
subsidence  of  some  of  the  flooded  creeks,  the  brothers 
made  a  successful  effort,  and  got  into  somewhat  better 
travelling  country.  The  next  morning  they  came  across 
some  blacks  who  were  eager  to  be  on  good  terms,  and 
hailed  them  to  their  surprise  with  shouts  of  ''Franco; 
Allico;  Tumbacco".  These  cries  had  been  taught  them 
by  Mr.  Jardine,  who  was  getting  anxious  because  of 
his  sons'  delay,  and  had  done  all  he  could  think  of 
to  help  them.  He  had  cut  a  marked  tree  line,  almost 
from  sea  to  sea;  and  coached  the  local  natives  up  in  a 
few  English  words,  so  as  to  be  recognised  as  friends. 
This  last  device  succeeded  admirably.  From  these 
newcomers,  they  selected  three  as  guides,  and  the 
following  day  reached  the  settlement. 

The  rest  of  the  party  and  the  stock  were  soon  brought 
into  Somerset,  where  a  cattle-station  was  formed.  When 
we  look  back  at  the  difficulties  that  beset  the  path  of  this 
expedition,  and  the  unforeseen  disasters  that  befel  them, 
one  cannot  help  feeling  the  greatest  admiration  for  the 
leaders  and  their  conduct.  In  spite  of  the  numberless 
treacherous  attacks  of  the  blacks  to  which  they  had  been 
subjected,  not  a  member  of  the  band  had  been  lost.  They 
had  fought  their  way  through  the  same  species  of  danger 

K 


130  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

that  had  environed  the  unfortunate  Kennedy,  and  had 
all  lived  to  tell  the  tale.  The  Eoyal  Geographical  Society 
rewarded  the  labours  of  the  two  brothers  by  electing  them 
Fellows  of  the  Society,  and  by  awarding  them  the 
Murchison  medal. 

Frank  Jardine  was  for  some  period  Government 
Eesident  at  Thursday  Island,  whither  the  settlement  has 
been  removed;  but  of  late  he  has  resided  at  his  own 
station  at  Somerset,  and  engaged  in  pearl-shelling.  Alec 
entered  the  Queensland  civil  service,  as  Roads  Engineer, 
and  in  that  capacity  did  much  important  work  in  the 
construction  of  the  roads  of  that  State.  In  1871-1872, 
he  designed  and  constructed  the  road  and  railway-bridge 
over  the  Dawson  River,  and  in  1890  he  became  Engineer- 
in-Chief  for  Harbours  and  Rivers. 

But  the  scrubby  and  hilly  nature  of  the  country  on 
Cape  York  militated  against  its  speedy  settlement,  and 
it  needed  the  lure  of  gold  to  induce  men  to  risk  their 
lives  in  a  land  with  such  hostile  inhabitants.  In  1872 
the  Queensland  Government  decided  upon  another 
exploration  of  the  neck  of  land  that  forms  the  northern- 
most point  of  Australia.  More  than  eight  years  had 
elapsed  since  the  Jardines  had  made  their  dashing 
journey;  but  their  report,  coupled  with  Kennedy's  fate, 
did  not  offer  much  temptation  to  follow  up  their 
footsteps.  There  was,  however,  a  tract  of  country  near 
the  base  of  the  Peninsula  still  comparatively  unknown;, 
and  a  party  was  organised  and  placed  under  the  leader- 
ship of  William  Hann.  Hann  was  a  native  of  Wiltshire, 
who  had  come  out  to  the  south  of  Victoria  with  hi& 
parents  at  an  early  age.  He  was  afterwards  one  of  the 
pioneer  squatters  of  the  Burdekin,  in  which  river  his 
father  was  drowned.  The  object  of  the  trip  was  ta 
examine  the  country  as  far  as  the  14th  parallel  S.,  with 
a  special  view  to  its  mineral  resources.  The  discovery  of 
gold  having  extended  so  far  north  in  Queensland  had 
raised  a  hope  that  its  existence  would  be  traced  along  the 
promontory.  Hann  had  with  him  Taylor  as  geologist, 
and  Dr.  Tate  as  botanist,  the  latter  being  a  survivor  of 


LATEE    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    NORTH-EAST  131 

the  melancholy  ''Maria"  expedition  to  New  Guinea. 
Apparently  his  ardour  for  exploration  had  not  been 
cooled  by  the  narrow  escape  he  had  then  experienced. 

The  party  left  Fossilbrook  station  on  the  creek  of  the 
same  name,  a  tributary  of  the  Lynd,  north  of  the  initial 
point  of  the  Jardine  expedition.  Crossing  much  rugged 
and  broken  country,  they  found  two  rivers  running  into 
the  Mitchell,  and  named  them  the  Tate  and  the  Walsh, 

From  the  Walsh,  the  party  proceeded  to  the  upper 
course  of  the  Mitchell,  and  crossing  it,  struck  a  creek, 
marked  on  Kennedy's  map  as  "creek  ninety  yards  wide." 
This  was  named  the  Palmer,  and  here  Warner,  the 
surveyor,  found  traces  of  gold.  A  further  examination 
of  the  river  resulted  in  likely-looking  results  being 
obtained;  and  the  discovery  is  now  a  matter  of  history,, 
the  world-wide  ''Palmer  rush"  to  north  Queensland 
being  the  result  in  1874. 

On  the  1st  of  September,  Hann  reached  his  northern 
limit,  and  the  next  day  commenced  the  ascent  of  the 
range  dividing  the  eastern  and  western  waters.  A  few 
days  afterwards,  he  sighted  the  Pacific  at  Princess 
Charlotte  Bay.  From  this  point  the  party  returned  south,. 
and  came  to  a  large  river  which  he  called  the  Normanby, 
where  a  slight  skirmish  with  the  natives  occurred,  the 
blacks  having  hitherto  been  on  friendly  terms.  While 
the  men  were  collecting  the  horses  in  the  morning,  the 
natives  attempted  to  cut  them  off,  each  native  having  a 
bundle  of  spears.  A  few  shots  at  a  long  distance  were 
sufficient  to  disperse  them,  and  the  affair  ended  without 
bloodshed. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  Hann  crossed  the  historical 
Endeavour  River,  and  upon  a  small  creek  running  into 
this  inlet,  he  lost  one  of  his  horses  from  poison.  Below 
the  Endeavour,  the  party  encountered  similar  difficulties 
to  those  that  dogged  poor  Kennedy's  footsteps — 
impenetrable  scrub  and  steep  ravines.  This  went  on 
for  some  days,  and  an  attempt  to  reach  the  seashore 
involved  them  in  a  perfect  sea  of  scrub,  and  necessitated 
the  final  conclusion  that  advance  by  white  men  and  horses 
was  impossible.     Hann  had  reluctantly  to  make  up  hi& 


132  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

mind  to  return  by  the  Gulf  Coast,  and  abandon  the 
unexplored  ground  to  the  south  of  him. 

After  many  entanglements  in  the  ranges,  and  confusion 
arising  from  the  tortuous  courses  of  the  rivers,  the 
watershed  was  at  last  crossed,  and  on  the  28th  of  October 
they  camped  once  more  on  the  Palmer,  whence  they  safely 
returned  along  their  outward  course. 

The  gold  discoveries  on  the  Palmer,  and  the  rush 
caused  thereby,  coming  soon  after  this  expedition,  led  to 
a  great  deal  of  minor  exploration  done  under  the  guise 
of  prospecting;  and  it  is  greatly  to  the  work  of 
prospectors  for  gold  that  much  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
petty  details  of  the  geographical  features  of  Australia 
is  due.  To  the  courage  and  endurance  of  this  class  of 
settler,  Australia  owes  a  great  debt,  but  their  labours  are 
unrecorded  and  often  forgotten. 


Part 


CENTRAL  AUSTRALIA. 


statue  of  John  McDouall  Stuart,  in  the  Lands  Office,  Sydney. 


Chapter  XI. 
EDWARD  JOHN  EYRE. 


(i.) — Settlement  of  Adelaide  and  the  Overlandees. 

The  exploration  of  the  centre  of  the  continent  was  long 
retarded  by  the  diflficult  nature  of  the  country — by  its 
aridity,  its  few  continuously-watered  rivers,  and  the 
supposed  horse-shoe  shape  of  Lake  Torrens,  which  thrust 
its  vast  shallow  morass  across  the  path  of  the  daring 
explorers  making  north. 

For  most  of  us  of  the  present  day,  to  whom  Lake 
Torrens  is  but  a  geographical  feature,  it  is  hard  to 
imagine  the  sense  of  awe  it  inspired  in  the  breasts  of 
the  South  Australian  settlers,  who  appeared  to  be  cut 
off  completely  from  the  north  by  its  gloomy  and 
forbidding  environs  of  salt  and  barrenness. 

In  1836,  Colonel  Light  surveyed  the  shores  of  St. 
Vincent's  Gulf,  and  selected  the  site  of  the  city  of 
Adelaide.  Governor  Hindmarsh  and  a  company  of 
emigrants  arrived  soon  afterwards,  and  the  Province  of 
South  Australia  was  proclaimed. 

The  very  vpromising  discoveries  made  to  the  south  of 
the  Murray  by  Major  Mitchell  soon  induced  an  invasion 
of  adventurous  pastoralists  bringing  their  stock  from 
the  settled  parts  of  New  South  Wales. 

Charles  Bonney  led  the  way  across  to  the  Port  Phillip 
settlement  in  1837  with  sheep.  G.  H.  Ebden  accompanied 
him,  and  they  were  shortly  followed  by  many  more: 
Hamilton,  Gardiner,  Langbourne,  and  others,  -  whose 
names  are  well-known  in  Australian  history  as  ^ '  the  first 
Overlanders. "  Very  shortly  this  overlanding  of  stock 
was  extended  to  the  newly-founded  city  of  Adelaide, 
Charles   Bonney   and   Joseph   Hawdon   being   the   first 

135 


136  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

drovers  on  this  long  journey.  Their  Adelaide  journey 
was  in  fact  an  exploration  trip,  and  an  important  one, 
as  they  followed  the  bank  of  the  Murray  below  its 
junction  with  the  Darling;  this  part  of  the  river  having 
been  followed  down  before  only  by  Sturt,  and  then  only 
by  water. 

It  was  in  January,  1838,  that  Hawdon  and  Bonney 
left  Mitchell's  crossing  at  the  Goulburn  River  with  cattle 
as  pioneers  on  the  overland  route  to  Adelaide.  Unknown 
to  them  they  were  closely  followed  by  E.  J.  Eyre,  with 
another  mob  of  cattle.  Eyre,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see, 
was  thrown  out  of  the  race  through  trying  to  make  a 
short  cut  to  avoid  the  sweeping  bend  of  the  river.  Bonney 
and  Hawdon  crossed  the  Murray  above  the  junction  of 
the  Darling,  and  in  places  found  the  bed  of  the  latter 
river  dry.  The  natives,  strange  to  say,  were  quite 
friendly;  perhaps  they  had  taken  to  heart  the  lesson 
Mitchell  had  read  them.  But  their  amiable  demeanour 
did  not  last  long.  Bonney  and  Hawdon  were  almost  the 
last  overlanding  party  to  proceed  unmolested.  Within  a 
comparatively  short  time  afterwards,  an  incessant  war 
began  to  be  waged  between  the  blacks  and  every  Over- 
lander  who  passed  down  the  Murray.  It  ended  only  with 
the  sanguinary  battle  of  the  Rufus.  More  fortunate  than 
Sturt,  Hawdon  and  Bonny  were  able  to  cut  off  many  of 
the  wearisome  bends  that  had  so  fatigued  Sturt 's  crew. 
Sturt  had  had  to  follow  every  turn  and  curve,  whilst  the 
Overlanders  avoided  the  bends  of  the  Murray  by  follow- 
ing the  native  paths,  which  spared  them  in  some  cases  a 
journey  of  one  or  two  days.  It  was  while  following  ,a 
native  path  that  they  discovered  and  named  Lake  Bonney. 
At  last  they  sighted  the  Mount  Lofty  ranges,  and  after 
some  difficult}^  in  getting  through  some  rough  mal lee- 
covered  country,  arrived  at  Adelaide,  and  gladdened  the 
residents  with  the  prospect  of  roast  beef.  ^'Up  to  this 
time,"  says  Bonney  in  his  diary,  ''they  had  been  living 
almost  exclusively  on  kangaroo  flesh."  Eyre,  whose  name 
was  afterwards  so  closely  allied  with  a  famous  story  of 
thirst  and  hardship,  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life 
during  his  overlanding  trip. 


EDWAED   JOHN   EYRE  137 

It  was  owing  to  a  very  natural  mistake  that  Eyre  was 
led  astray.  He  intended  to  try  a  straighter  and  shorter 
route  than  the  one  round  the  Murray,  and  for  a  time  got 
on  very  well,  but  coming  across  a  tract  of  dry  country 
across  which  he  could  not  take  the  cattle,  he  determined 
to  follow  Mitchell's  Wimmera  River  to  the  north, 
naturally  thinking  that  it  would  lead  him  easily  to  the 
Murray,  and  would  probably  prove  to  be  identical  with 
the  Lindsay,  as  marked  on  Sturt  's  chart.  From  Mitchell 's 
furthest  point,  he  traced  it  a  considerable  distance  to 
the  north-west,  and  at  last  found  its  termination  in  a 
large  swampy  lake,  which  he  called  after  the  first 
Governor  of  South  Australia,  Lake  Hindmarsh.  From 
this  lake  he  could  find  no  outlet,  so  taking  with  him  two 
men,  he  made  an  attempt  to  push  through  to  the  Murray, 
leaving  his  cattle  to  await  him.  He  found  the  country 
covered  with  an  almost  impenetrable  mallee  scrub,  and  as 
there  was  neither  grass  nor  water  for  the  horses,  he 
was  forced  to  retreat.  He  reached  his  camp  after  a  weary 
struggle  on  foot,  the  horses  having  died  from  thirst. 
Eyre  was  then  compelled  to  return  and  gain  the  bank  of 
the  Murray  by  the  nearest  available  route.  The  bitter 
disappointment  of  the  trip  was,  that  when  forced  to 
retreat  by  the  inhospitable  nature  of  the  country,  he  was 
but  twenty-five  miles  from  the  river. 

Bonney,  however,  on  another  occasion,  took  a  mob  of 
cattle  from  the  Goulburn  River  to  Adelaide  in  almost  a 
direct  line.  In  February,  1839,  he  left  the  Goulburn  and 
steered  a  course  for  the  Grampian  Mountains,  where  he 
struck  the  Wannon,  and  followed  it  down  to  the  Glenelg. 
Here  he  came  upon  one  of  the  Henty  stations,  and  was 
strongly  advised  not  to  persist  in  his  attempt.  Captain 
Hart,  who  had  been  examining  the  country  with  the  same 
purpose  in  view  as  Bonney 's,  stated  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  take  cattle  through,  and  turned  back  with 
his  own  to  follow  the  old  route  round  the  Murray  bend. 
But  Bonney  was  not  to  be  daunted,  and  resolutely  pushed 
on  west  of  the  Glenelg.  He  discovered  and  named  Lake 
Hawdon,     and     also     named     two     mountains.     Mount 


138  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Muirhead  and  Mount  Benson.  But  at  Lacepede  Bay  his 
most  serious  troubles  commenced.  The  party  had  pushed 
on  steadily  to  within  forty  miles  of  Lake  Alexandrina 
when,  in  the  middle  of  a  sandy  desert,  the  working 
hullocks  failed.  Bonney  divided  his  party,  and  sending 
some  of  the  men  back  to  take  the  workers  to  a  brackish 
pool  which  they  had  passed,  he  himself  with  the  stockmen 
and  two  black  boys,  made  a  desperate  effort  to  reach  the 
Lake  with  the  main  mob.  For  two  days  they  pushed 
steadily  on,  travelling  day  and  night,  until  men  and  beasts 
were  alike  at  their  last  gasp.  Bonney  then  tried  a 
desperate  expedient: — "I  then  determined,"  he  says,  *'as 
a  last  resource,  to  kill  a  calf  and  use  the  blood  to  assuage 
our  thirst.  This  was  done,  and  though  the  blood  did  not 
allay  the  pangs  of  thirst  to  any  great  extent,  it  restored 
our  strength  very  much. ' ' 

The  exhausted  men  then  lay  down  to  rest;  but  whilst 
they  slept,  their  thirsty  beasts  scented  a  faint  smell  of 
damp  earth  on  a  wandering  puff  of  wind,  and  stampeded 
off  to  windward.  Too  weak  to  follow  on  at  once,  the  men, 
after  an  hour  or  two,  staggered  after  them  and  tracked 
them  to  a  half-dry  swamp,  which  still  retained  a  little 
mud  and  water.  It  was  brackish,  but  palatable  enough 
for  men  in  their  exhausted  condition,  and  saved  the  lives 
of  all.  After  some  trouble  in  crossing  the  Murray,  they 
reached  Adelaide  in  safety  with  the  stock. 

When  the  news  of  their  arrival  reached  Port  Phillip, 
many  other  Overlanders  were  encouraged  by  Bonney 's 
example  to  try  the  shorter  route,  and  the  trade  in 
shipping  cattle  across  the  straits  from  Tasmania  almost 
ceased. 

Bonney  had  been  born  at  Sandon,  near  Stafford, 
and  educated  at  the  Grammar  School,  Kugby.  He  had 
come  out  to  Sydney  in  1834,  as  clerk  to  Sir  William 
Westbrooks  Burton;  but  the  love  of  adventure  prevailed 
over  his  other  inclinations,  and  in  1837,  he  joined  Ebden 
in  squatting  pursuits,  and  eventually  distinguished 
himself  as  one  of  the  leading  Overlanders.  He 
subsequently  settled  in  South  Australia.  From  1842  to 
1857  he  was  Commissioner  for  Crown  Lands,  and  he 


EDWAED    JOHN    EYKE 


139 


afterwards  served  the  State  as  manager  for  railways, 
and  in  other  capacities.  Subsequently  he  returned  to 
Sydney,  where  he  died. 


(ii.) — Eyre^s  Chief  Journeys. 

Edward  John  Eyre  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Anthony 
Eyre,  vicar  of  Hornsea  and  Long  Riston,  Yorkshire,  and 
was  born  on  August  14th,  1815.  He  was  educated  at 
Louth  and  Sedburgh  Grammar  Schools.  He  came  to 
Australia  in  1833,  and 
immediately  engaged  in 
squatting  pursuits,  his  en- 
terprising spirit  constantly 
leading  him  beyond  the 
pale  of  civilization,  where 
his  natural  love  for  ex- 
ploration rapidly  in- 
creased. His  fortunes  as 
an  Overlander  have  al- 
ready been  noticed.  On 
the  5th  August,  1839,  he 
left  Port  Lincoln,  on  the 
western  shore  of  Spencer's 
Gulf,  meaning  to  pene- 
trate as  far  as  he  could 
to  the  westward.  Some  time  before  he  had  made 
an  expedition  to  the  north  of  Adelaide  as  far  as  Mount 
Arden,  a  striking  elevation  to  the  N.N.E.  of  Spencer's 
Gulf.  He  had  ascended  this  mount,  and  from  the  summit 
seen  a  depression  which  he  took  to  be  a  lake  with  a  dry 
bed.  This  lake  afterwards  played  an  important  part  in 
the  history  of  South  Australian  settlement  under  the 
name  of  Lake  Torrens. 

Eyre's  party  on  his  westward  trip  consisted  of  an 
overseer,  three  men,  and  two  natives.  Twenty  days  after 
leaving  Port  Lincoln,  they  arrived  at  Streaky  Bay,  not 
having  crossed  a  single  stream,  rivulet,  or  chain  of  ponds 
the  whole  distance  of  nearly  three  hundred  miles.  Three 
small  springs  only  had.  been  found,  and  the  country  was 


Edward  John  Eyre. 


140  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

covered  with  the  gloomy  mallee  and  tea-tree  scrub.  West- 
ward of  Streaky  Bay  the  country  was  still  found  to  be 
scrubby ;  so  Eyre  formed  a  camp,  and  taking  only  a  black 
boy  with  him,  he  forced  a  stubborn  way  onward,  until 
he  was  within  nearly  fifty  miles  of  the  western  border  of 
South  Australia.  To  all  appearance  the  country  was 
slightly  more  elevated  than  the  level  scrubby  flats  he 
had  been  traversing,  but  there  was  neither  grass  nor 
water,  and  an  immediate  return  became  necessary. 
Before  he  got  back  to  Streaky  Bay  camp,  he  nearly  lost 
three  of  his  horses. 

Leaving  Streaky  Bay  again,  he  went  east  of  north  to 
the  head  of  Spencer's  Gulf,  finding  the  country  on  this 
route  a  little  better,  but  still  devoid  of  water,  the  party 
getting  through,  thanks  only  to  a  timely  rainfall.  On 
the  29th  of  September,  he  came  to  his  old  camp  at  Mount 
Arden,  where  he  wrote : — 

''It  was  evident  that  what  I  had  taken  on  my  last 
journey  to  be  the  bed  of  a  dry  lake  now  contained  water, 
and  was  of  a  considerable  size ;  but  as  my  time  was  very 
limited,  and  the  lake  at  a  great  distance,  I  had  to  forego 
my  wish  to  visit  it.  I  have,  however,  no  doubt  of  its 
being  salt,  from  the  nature  of  the  country,  and  the  fact 
of  finding  the  water  very  salt  in  one  of  the  creeks 
draining  into  it  from  the  hills.  Beyond  this  lake  (which 
I  distinguished  with  the  name  of  Colonel  Torrens)  to 
the  westward  was  a  low,  flat-topped  range,  extending 
north-westerly,  as  far  as  I  could  see." 

From  this  point  Eyre  returned,  pursuing  his  former 
homeward  route. 

The  main  objects  that  now  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  colonists  of  South  Australia  were  (1)  discovery  to 
the  northward,  regarding  both  the  extent  of  Lake  Torrens 
and  the  nature  of  the  interior;  and  (2)  the  possibility 
of  the  existence  of  a  stock  route  to  the  Swan  River 
settlement.  Eyre,  however,  after  his  late  experience,  was 
convinced  that  the  overlanding  of  stock  around  the  head 
of  the  Great  Bight  was  impracticable.  The  country  was 
too  sterile,  and  the  absence  of  water-courses  rendered  the 
idea  hopeless.    For  immediate  practical  results,  beneficial 


EDWARD   JOHN   EYEE 


141 


142  EXPLOREKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

to  the  growing  pastoral  industry,  Eyre  favoured  the 
extension  of  discovery  to  the  north.  This  then  was  the 
course  adopted,  and  subscriptions  were  raised  towards 
that  end.  Eyre  himself  provided  one-third  of  the 
needful  horses  and  other  expenses;  and  the  Government 
and  colonists  found  the  remainder. 

Meantime  it  was  found  that  the  country  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  Port  Lincoln  was  not 
altogether  of  the  same  wretched  nature  as  that  traversed 
by  Eyre  between  Streaky  Bay  and  the  head  of  Spencer's 
Gulf.  Captain  Hawson,  William  Smith,  and  three  others 
had  made  an  excursion  for  some  considerable  distance, 
and  found  well-grassed  country  and  abundance  of  water. 
From  the  point  whence  they  turned  back,  they  had  seen 
a  fine  valley  with  a  running  stream.  This  valley  they 
named  Rossitur  Vale,  after  Captain  Rossitur  of  the 
French  whaler  ''Mississippi,"  the  first  foreign  vessel 
to  enter  Port  Lincoln.  Rossitur  was  the  man  who  was 
destined  later  to  afford  opportune  aid  to  Eyre,  without 
which  he  would  never  have  reached  Albany. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1840,  Eyre's  preparations  were 
complete,  and  he  left  Adelaide  after  a  farewell  breakfast 
at  Government  House,  where  Captain  Sturt  presented 
him  with  a  flag — the  Union  Jack — worked  by  some  of  the 
ladies  of  Adelaide. 

His  party  was  not  a  large  one  considering  the  nature 
of  the  undertaking,  consisting  as  it  did  of  six  white  men 
and  two  black  boys.  At  Mt.  Arden  they  formed  a 
stationary  camp.  A  small  vessel  called  the  ''Water- 
witch,  ' '  was  sent  to  the  head  of  Spencer 's  Gulf  with  the 
heaviest  portion  of  their  supplies,  and  the  party  had 
three  horse  drays  with  them.  Eyre  trusted  that  a  range 
of  hills,  which  he  had  seen  stretching  to  the  north-east, 
would  continue  far  enough  to  take  him  clear  of  the  flat 
and  depressed  country  around  Lake  Torrens — would,  in 
fact,  as  he  says,  form  a  stepping-stone  into  the  interior. 

Taking  one  black  boy  with  him.  Eyre  made  a  short  trip 
to  Lake  Torrens,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  party  to  land  the 
stores  from  the  "Waterwitch."  He  found  the  bed  of  the 
lake  coated  with  a  crust  of  salt,  pure  white,  and  glistening 


EDWARD   JOHN   EYRE  143 

brilliantly  in  the  sunshine.  It  yielded  to  the  footstep^ 
and  below  was  soft  mud,  which  rapidly  grew  so  boggy 
as  to  stop  their  progress.  In  fact  they  had  to  return 
to  the  shore  without  being  able  to  ascertain  whether  there 
was  any  water  on  the  surface  or  not.  At  this  point  the 
lake  appeared  to  be  about  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  across,, 
having  high  land  bounding  it  on  the  distant  west. 

There  seemed  no  chance  of  crossing  the  lake;  and 
following  its  shore  to  the  north  was  impossible.  There 
was  neither  grass  nor  water;  the  very  rainwater  turned 
salt  after  lying  a  short  time  on  the  saline  soil.  The  only 
chance  of  success  appeared  to  be  to  keep  close  to  the 
north-eastern  range,  which  Eyre  named  the  Flinders 
Range,  trusting  to  its  broken  gullies  to  supply  them  with 
some  scanty  grass  and  rainwater. 

It  was  a  cheerless  outlook.  On  one  side  was  an 
impassable  lake  of  combined  mud  and  salt;  on  the  other 
a  desert  of  bare  and  barren  plains ;  whilst  their  onward 
path  was  along  a  range  of  inhospitable  rocks. 

''The  very  stones,  lying  upon  the  hills,"  says  Eyre, 
''looked  like  scorched  and  withered  scoria  of  a  volcanie 
region,  and  even  the  natives,  judging  from  the  specimen 
I  had  seen  to-day,  partook  of  the  general  misery  and 
wretchedness  of  the  place." 

He  directed  his  course  to  the  most  distant  point  of 
the  Flinders  Range,  but  when  he  arrived  there,  he  was 
obliged  to  christen  it  Mount  Deception,  as  his  hope  of 
finding  water  there  was  disappointed.  Subsisting  as  well 
as  they  could  on  rain  puddles  on  the  plains.  Eyre  and  his- 
boy  searched  about  for  some  time  and  at  last  found 
a  permanent-looking  hole  in  a  small  creek.  They  then 
returned  to  the  main  party.  Having  concealed  the 
supplies  landed  from  the  cutter,  Eyre  sent  the  vessel  back 
to  Adelaide  with  despatches,  and  moved  the  whole  of  the 
men  out  to  the  pool  of  water  that  he  had  just  found. 
From  this  vantage  point  he  made  various  scouting  trips 
with  the  black  boy,  both  to  the  eastward  and  westward 
of  north.  The  2nd  of  September  found  him  on  the 
summit  of  an  elevation  which  he  appropriately  named 
Mount  Hopeless,  gazing  at  the  salt  lake  that  he  now 


144  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

thought  hemmed  him  in  on  three  sides,  even  to  the 
eastward.  There  was  no  prospect  visible  of  crossing  the 
lake,  which  seemed  persistently  to  defy  him,  meeting 
him  at  every  attempt  with  a  barrier  of  stagnant  mud. 
There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  leave  the  interior 
unvisited  by  this  route,  and  to  return  to  Mount  Arden. 

He  divided  his  party,  sending  Baxter,  the  overseer, 
with  most  of  the  men  and  stores  straight  across  to 
Streaky  Bay,  where  he  had  formerly  made  a  camp, 
while,  with  the  remainder,  he  made  his  way  to  Port 
Lincoln.  Having  abandoned  his  intention  to  penetrate 
to  the  interior  on  a  northern  course,  he  now  determined 
to  push  out  westward,  to  King  George's  Sound,  finding, 
perhaps,  on  the  way  across,  some  inducement  that  would 
lead  him  north. 

At  Port  Lincoln  he  could  not  obtain  the  extra  supplies 
he  wanted  without  sending  to  Adelaide ;  it  was  therefore 
the  24th  of  October  when  he  finally  started  for  Streaky 
Bay.  He  found  that  Baxter  had  arrived  there  safely, 
and  was  anxiously  awaiting  him. 

He  now  camped  for  many  weeks  at  Fowler's  Bay,  which 
was  as  far  as  the  cutter  they  now  had,  the  ' '  Hero, ' '  could 
act  as  convoy,  her  charter  not  extending  beyond  South 
Australian  waters.  The  "Waterwitch"  having  sprung 
a  leak,  the  ''Hero"  had  taken  her  place.  During  the 
time  that  they  remained  there.  Eyre  made  many  journeys 
ahead  to  estimate  his  chances  of  getting  across  the 
dry  and  barren  country  intervening  between  him  and 
the  Sound,  but  the  outlook  was  disheartening.  He  met 
some  natives,  who  all  assured  him  that  there  was  no 
water  ahead;  nor  could  he  find  any  but  some  brackish 
water  obtained  by  digging  in  some  sandhills.  Worse 
than  all,  he  sacrificed  three  of  his  best  horses  during 
these  fruitless  attempts. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  the  ''Hero"  arrived  with  the 
oats  and  bran  he  had  sent  back  for.  So  poverty-stricken 
was  the  country  that  Eyre,  in  the  circumstances,  resolved 
to  send  back  nearly  the  whole  of  his  expedition  by  the 
vessel,  and  then,  with  only  a  small  party,  to  push 
through  to  King  George's  Sound  or  perish  in  the  attempt. 


EDWAED  JOHN   EYEE  145 

Baffled  successively  to  the  north  and  to  the  west,  Eyre 
had  been  put  upon  his  mettle,  and  he  could  not  endure 
the  thought  of  returning  to  Adelaide  a  beaten  man. 

On  the  31st  of  January  the  cutter  departed,  and  Eyre, 
Baxter,  and  three  native  boys,  one  of  whom  had  come 
by  the  vessel  on  her  last  trip,  were  left  alone  to  face  the 
eight  hundred  miles  of  desert  solitude  before  them.  Some 
time  was  spent  in  making  their  final  preparations,  but 
on  the  24th  of  February  they  had  actually  begun  their 
journey  when,  to  their  astonishment,  they  heard  two 
shots  fired  at  sea.  Thinking  that  a  whaler  had  put  in 
to  the  bay.  Eyre  turned  back,  but  found  the  "Hero" 
again  in  port  with  an  urgent  request  from  Adelaide  to 
abandon  his  desperate  project,  and  return  in  the  vessel. 
Upon  a  man  of  Eyre's  temperament,  this  recall  could 
have  only  one  effect,  that  of  strengthening  his  resolve 
to  proceed  westward  at  all  hazards.  He  did  not  emulate 
Cortez  by  burning  his  ship  behind  him,  but  he  none  the 
less  effectually  deprived  himself  of  means  of  retreat  by 
dismissing  the  little  ''Hero." 

It  was  at  the  close  of  a  hot  summer  when  Eyre  started, 
and  the  nature  of  the  sandy  soil,  combined  with  the  low 
prickly  scrub,  soon  began  to  hamper  their  progress  and 
render  the  lack  of  water  especially  severe.  On  one  side 
of  them,  flanking  their  line  of  march,  were  the  cliffs  of 
the  Great  Bight,  against  which  thundered  the  ever- 
restless  southern  rollers;  on  the  other  there  stretched 
a  limitless  expanse  of  dark,  gloomy  scrub.  Their  only 
hope  of  relief  was  the  faint  chance  of  striking  some  native 
path  which  might  lead  them  to  an  infrequent  soakage- 
spring.  Even  in  these  depressing  circumstances.  Eyre 
seems  to  have  found  time  to  express  his  admiration  of 
Nature  as  she  then  revealed  herself  to  him: — 

''Distressing  and  fatal  as  the  continuance  of  these  cliffs 
might  prove  to  us,  there  was  a  grandeur  and  sublimity 
in  their  appearance  that  was  most  imposing,  and  which 
struck  me  with  admiration.  Stretching  out  before  us 
in  lofty,  unbroken  outline,  they  presented  the  singular 
and  romantic  appearance  of  massy  battlements  of 
masonry,  supported  by  huge  buttresses,  glittering  in  the 


146  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

morning  sun  which  had  now  risen  upon  them,  and  made 
the  scene  beautiful  even  amidst  the  dangers  and 
anxieties  of  our  situation." 

Five  days  of  slow,  dragging  toil  passed,  until,  with  the 
horses  at  their  last  gasp,  and  the  men  baked  and  parched, 
they  found  relief  in  some  native  wells  amongst  the  sand- 
hills, at  a  point  where  the  cliffs  receded  from  the  sea. 

After  resting  for  some  days  at  this  camp.  Eyre,  misled 
by  a  report  he  had  obtained  from  the  natives,  again 
moved  forward,  taking  with  him  but  a  small  supply  of 
water.  When  he  had  discovered  the  blunder,  he  had  gone 
forty  miles,  and  over  this  weary  distance  the  horses  had 
to  return.  It  was  one  of  those  mishaps  that  helped  so 
much  to  wear  out  his  unfortunate  animals. 

Trouble  after  trouble  now  added  itself  to  the  burden  of 
the  explorers.  Another  five  days  had  passed  without 
water,  and  their  only  hopes  rested  upon  some  sandhills 
ahead,  seen  from  the  sea  by  Flinders,  and  marked  by 
him  upon  his  chart.  Eetreat  was  impossible,  and  with 
their  horses  failing  one  after  another,  they  toiled  on, 
desperate  and  well-nigh  hopeless.  Eyre's  anxiety  was 
increased  by  Baxter's  growing  despondency  and 
pessimistic  view  of  the  issue  of  their  enterprise.  They 
were  now  travelling  along  the  sea  beach,  firm  and  hard, 
and  ominously  marked  with  wreckage.  Their  last  drop  of 
water  had  been  consumed,  and  that  morning  they  had 
been  collecting  dew  from  the  bushes  with  a  sponge,  as  a 
last  resource.  When  they  reached  the  sand-dunes,  they 
were  almost  too  weak  to  search  for  a  likely  place  to  dig 
for  water;  but  making  a  final  effort,  they  discovered  a 
patch  whence,  at  six  feet,  they  obtained  a  supply  of  water. 

It  was  now  that  Eyre  approached  the  grand  crisis  of 
his  adventurous  journey.  According  to  the  chart 
compiled  by  Flinders,  he  had  another  long  succession 
of  cliffs  to  encounter,  and  he  knew  that  where  these  cliffs 
came  in  and  sternly  fronted  the  ocean,  he  need  hope  for 
no  relief.  Should  this  space  be  happily  surmounted  by 
a  desperate  effort,  he  hoped  to  reach  a  kindlier  country. 
Disaffection  appeared  in  his  small  camp.  Baxter  was 
always  suggesting  and  even  urging  a  return.     Perhaps 


EDWARD   JOHN    EYEE  147 

some  shadow  of  his  tragic  fate  overhung  his  spirit.  The 
native  boys  were  ripe  for  desertion,  and  two  of  them 
did  desert,  only  to  return  in  a  few  days,  starving,  and 
apparently  repentant.  Better  for  Eyre  had  they  gone 
altogether.  Amid  such  discouraging  surroundings  did 
Eyre  commence  his  last  struggle  with  the  cliffs  of  the 
Great  Bight. 

The  party  had  been  tantalised  by  threatening  clouds, 
which  never  broke  in  rain.  When  on  the  third  day  they 
gathered  once  more,  black  and  lowering,  Baxter  urged 
Eyre  to  camp  that  night  instead  of  pushing  on,  as  rain 
seemed  certain,  and  the  rock  holes  by  which  they  were 
then  passing  were  well  adapted  to  catch  the  slightest 
shower.  Eyre  consented,  against  his  better  judgment. 
It  was  necessary  to  watch  the  horses  lest  they  should 
ramble  too  far,  and  Eyre  kept  the  first  watch.  The  night 
was  cold,  the  wind  blowing  a  gale  and  driving  the  flying 
scud  across  the  face  of  the  moon.  The  horses  wandered 
off  in  different  directions  in  the  scrub,  giving  the  tired 
man  much  trouble  to  keep  them  together.  About  half- 
past  ten  he  drove  them  near  the  camp  intending  shortly 
to  call  the  overseer  to  relieve  him. 

Suddenly  the  dead  stillness  of  the  night  and  the 
wilderness  was  broken  by  the  report  of  a  gun.  Eyre  was 
not  at  first  alarmed,  thinking  it  was  a  signal  of  Baxter's 
to  indicate  the  position  of  their  camp.  He  called,  but 
received  no  answer.  Hastening  in  the  direction  of  the 
shot,  he  was  met  by  Wylie,  the  King  George's  Sound 
native,  running  towards  him  in  great  alarm  crying  out : — 
*'0h,  massa,  massa,  come  here!"  and  then  losing  speech 
from  terror.  Eyre  was  soon  at  the  camp,  and  one  glance 
was  enough  to  see  that  his  purpose  must  now  be  pursued 
grimly  alone.  Baxter,  fatally  wounded,  was  stretched 
upon  the  ground,  bleeding  and  choking  in  his  last  agony. 
As  Eyre  raised  his  faithful  companion  in  his  arms  he 
expired. 

''At  the  dead  hour  of  night,  in  the  wildest  and  most 
inhospitable  waste  of  Australia,  with  the  fierce  wind 
raging  in  unison  with  the  scene  of  violence  before  me, 
I  was  left  with  a  single  native,  whose  fidelity  I  could  not 


148  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

rely  on,  and  who,  for  aught  I  knew  might  be  in  league 
with  the  other  two,  who,  perhaps  were  even  now  lurking 
about  to  take  my  life,  as  they  had  done  that  of  the 
overseer." 

On  examining  the  camp.  Eyre  found  that  the  two  boys 
had  carried  off  both  double-barrelled  guns,  all  the  baked 
bread  and  other  stores,  and  a  keg  of  water.  All  they  had 
left  behind  was  a  rifle,  with  the  barrel  choked  by  a  ball 
jammed  in  it,  four  gallons  of  water,  forty  pounds 
of  flour,  and  a  little  tea  and  sugar. 

When  he  had  time  to  think  the  matter  over  calmly. 
Eyre  judged,  from  the  position  of  the  body,  that  Baxter 
must  have  been  aroused  by  the  two  natives  plundering 
the  camp,  and  that,  getting  up  hastily  to  stop  them,  he 
was  immediately  shot.  His  first  care  was  to  put  his 
rifle  into  serviceable  condition,  and  then,  when  morning 
broke,  he  hastened  to  leave  the  ill-omened  place.  It  was 
impossible  to  bury  the  body  of  his  murdered  companion; 
one  unbroken  sheet  of  rock  covered  the  surface  of  the 
country  for  miles  in  every  direction.  Well  might  Eyre 
write,  many  years  afterwards: — 

''Though  years  have  now  passed  away  since  the 
enactment  of  this  tragedy,  the  dreadful  horrors  of  that 
time  and  scene  are  recalled  before  me  with  frightful 
vividness,  and  make  me  shudder  even  now  when  I  think 
of  them.  A  lifetime  was  crowded  into  those  few  short 
hours,  and  death  alone  may  blot  out  the  impressions  they 
produced. ' ' 

The  two  murderers  followed  the  white  man  and  boy 
during  the  first  day,  evading  all  Eyre's  attempts  to 
bring  them  to  close  quarters,  and  calling  to  the  remaining 
boy,  Wylie,  who  refused  to  go  to  them.  They  disappeared 
the  next  morning,  and  must  have  died  miserably  of  thirst 
and  starvation. 

Seven  days  passed  without  a  drop  of  water  for  the 
horses,  before  they  reached  the  end  of  the  line  of  cliffs, 
and  providentially  came  to  a  native  well  amid  the  sand 
dunes.  From  this  point  water  was  more  frequently 
obtained,  and  what  wretched  horses  they  had  left  showed 
feeble  symptoms  of  renewed  life.     At  last,  when  their 


EDWAED   JOHN   EYEE  149 

rations  were  completely  exhausted,  they  sighted  a  ship 
at  anchor  in  Thistle  Cove.  She  proved  to  be  the 
"Mississippi,"  commanded  by  Captain  Eossitur,  the 
whaler  already  referred  to  as  the  first  foreign  vessel  to 
enter  Port  Lincoln;  and  once  more  Eyre  had  to  give 
thanks  for  relief  at  a  most  critical  moment. 

For  ten  days,  in  the  hospitable  cabin  of  the  French 
whaler,  he  forgot  his  sufferings,  and  regained  some  of  his 
lost  strength.  Then,  provided  with  fresh  clothes  and 
provisions,  and  with  his  horses  freshly-shod.  Eyre 
recommenced  his  weary  pilgrimage,  and,  in  July,  1841, 
arrived  at  his  long-desired  goal.  King  George's  Sound. 

In  reflecting  upon  this  painful  march  of  Eyre 's  round 
the  Great  Bight,  one  feels  an  exceeding  great  pity  that 
so  much  heroic  suffering  should  have  been  spent  on  the 
execution  of  a  purpose  the  fulfilment  of  which  promised 
but  little  of  economic  value.  The  maritime  surveys  had 
fairly  established  the  fact  that  no  considerable  creek  or 
river  found  its  way  into  the  Southern  Ocean,  either  in 
or  about  the  Great  Bight.  Granted  that  the  outflow  of 
some  of  our  large  Australian  rivers  had  been  overlooked 
by  the  navigators,  the  local  conditions  were  such  as  to 
render  it  virtually  certain  that  any  such  omission  was 
not  made  along  this  part  of  the  south  coast.  Here  there 
was  to  be  found  no  fringe  of  low,  mangrove-covered 
flats,  studded  with  inlets  and^  saltwater  creeks,  thus 
masking  the  entrance  of  a  river.  In  some  parts,  a  bold 
forefront  of  lofty  precipitous  cliffs,  in  others  a  clean- 
swept  sandy  shore,  alone  faced  the  ocean.  Flinders, 
constantly  on  the  alert  as'  he  was  for  anything 
resembling  the  formation  of  a  river-mouth,  would 
scarcely  have  been  mistaken  in  his  reading  of  such  a 
coast-line.  And  the  journey  resulted  in  no  knowledge  of 
the  interior,  even  a  short  distance  back  from  the  actual 
coast-line.  The  conjectures  of  a  worn-out,  starving  man, 
picking  his  way  painfully  along  the  verge  of  the  beach, 
were,  in  this  respect,  of  little  moment. 

Eyre,  however,  won  for  himself  well-deserved  honour 
for  courage  and  perseverance,  in  as  exacting  circum- 
stances as  ever  beset  a  solitary  explorer.     The  picture 


150  EXPLOBERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

of  the  lonely  man  in  his  plundered  camp  bending  over  his 
murdered  companion,  separated  from  his  fellow-men  by 
countless  miles  of  unwatered  and  untrodden  waste, 
appeals  resistlessly  to  our  sympathies.  But  admiration 
of  Eyre's  good  qualities  has  blinded  many  to  his  errors 
of  judgment. 

He  was  accorded  a  generous  public  welcome  on  his 
return  to  Adelaide,  and  was  subsequently  appointed 
Police  Magistrate  on  the  Murray,  where  his  inland 
experience  and  knowledge  of  native  character  were  of 
great  service.  When  Sturt  started  on  his  memorable 
trip  to  the  centre  of  Australia,  Eyre  accompanied  his  old 
friend  some  distance.  But  his  activities  were  exercised 
in  other  fields  than  those  of  Australian  exploration 
during  his  after  life.  He  was  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
the  Province  of  New  Munster  in  New  Zealand  under  Sir 
George  Grey  from  1848  to  1853,  when  that  colony  was 
divided  into  two  provinces.  He  was  afterwards  Governor- 
General  of  Jamaica,  where  the  active  and  energetic 
measures  he  took  to  crush  the  insurrection  of  1865  incited 
a  storm  of  opposition  agaist  him  in  certain  quarters,  and 
he  played  a  leading  part  in  the  great  constitutional  cases 
of  Philips  V.  Eyre,  and  The  Queen  v.  Eyre.  He  died  at 
Steeple  Aston,  in  Oxfordshire,  in  1906. 


Chapter  XII. 


ATTEMPTS   TO   EEACH  THE    CENTEE. 


k,  *  -       « 


:s 


MOPCLEBS 


(i.) — Lake  Torrens  Pioneers  and  Horrocks. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Eyre,  in  1840,  reached,  after 
much  labour  an  elevation  to  the  north-east,  at  the  termin- 
ation of  the  range  which  he  had  followed,  and  had  named 
it  Mount  Hopeless.  From  the  outlook  from  its  summit 
he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  lake  was  of  the  shape 
shown  in  the  diagram, 
completely  surrounding 
the  northern  portion  of 
the  new  colony  of  South 
Australia.  In  fact,  he 
formed  a  theory  that  the 
colony  in  far  distant  times 
had  been  an  island,  the 
low-lying  flats  to  the  east 
joining  the  plains  west  of 
the  Darling.  It  was  in 
1843  that  the  Surveyor- 
Oeneral  of  South  Aus- 
tralia, Captain  Frome, 
undertook  an  expedition  to 
determine  the  dimensions 
of  this  mysterious  lake. 
He  reached  Mount  Serle, 
and  found  the  dry  bed  of 
a      great      lake      to      the 

eastward,  as  Eyre  had  described,  but  discovered  that 
Eyre  had  made  an  error  of  thirty  miles  in  longitude, 
placing  it  too  far  to  the  east.  He  got  no  further  north. 
He  thus  confirmed  the  existence  of  a  lake  eastward  of 
Lake  Torrens  (now  Lake  Frome),  but  achieved  nothing 


ScppossD  Extent 

AND 

Formation  of 

Lake  Torrbns 

IN  1846. 


152 


EXPLORERS    OF   AUSTRALIA 


to  prove  or  disprove  Eyre's  theory  of  their  continuity. 
Prior  to  this  the  pioneers  had  spread  settlement  both 
east  and  west  of  Eyre's  track  from  Adelaide  to  the 
head  of  Spencer's  Gulf.  Amongst  these  early  leaders 
of  civilisation  in  the  central  state,  are  to  be  found  the 
names  of  Hawker,  Hughes,  Campbell,  Eobinson,  and 
Heywood.  But  unfortunately  the  details  of  their 
expeditions  in  search  of  grazing  country  have  not  been 
preserved. 

John   Ainsworth   Horrocks    is    one    of    those,    whose 
accidental    death    at    the    very    outset    of    his    career 

plunged  his  name  into  ob- 
livion. Had  he  lived  to  climb 
to  the  summit  of  his  ambition 
as  an  explorer,  it  would  have 
been  written  large  in  Aus- 
tralian history.  That  he  had 
some  premonition  of  the  con- 
ditions necessary  to  success- 
ful exploration  to  the  west 
is  shown  by  his  having  been 
the  first  to  employ  the  camel 
as  an  aid  to  exploration. 
He  took  one  with  him  on  his 
last  and  fatal  trip,  and  it 
is  an  example  of  fate 's  cruel 
irony  that  the  presence  of 
this  animal  was  inadvertently  the  cause  of  his  death. 
Horrocks  was  born  at  Penwortham  Hall,  Lancashire, 
on  March  22nd,  1818.  He  was  very  much  taken  with  the 
South  Australian  scheme  of  colonisation,  and  left  London 
for  Adelaide,  where  he  arrived  in  1839.  He  at  once  took 
up  land,  and  with  his  brother  started  sheep-farming.  He 
was  a  born  explorer,  however,  and  made  several 
excursions  into  the  surrounding  untraversed  land» 
finding  several  geographical  features,  which  still  pre- 
serve the  names  he  gave  them.  In  1846  he  organised  an 
expedition  along  more  extended  lines,  intending  to  pro- 
<3eed  far  into  the  north-west  and  west.  After  having  over- 
looked the  ground,  he  would  then  prepare  another  party 


John  Ainsworth  Horrocks. 


ATTEMPTS    TO    EEACH    THE    CENTRE  153 

on  a  large  scale  to  attempt  the  passage  to  the  Swan 
River.  He  started  in  Jnly,  but  in  September  occurred 
the  disaster  which  cut  him  off  in  the  flower  of  his  promise. 
In  his  dying  letter  he  describes  how  he  saw  a  beautiful 
bird,  which  he  was  anxious  to  obtain: — 

' '  My  gun  being  loaded  with  slugs  in  one  barrel  and  ball 
in  the  other,  I  stopped  the  camel  to  get  at  the  shot  belt, 
which  I  could  not  get  without  his  lying  down. 

''Whilst  Mr.  Gill  was  unfastening  it,  I  was  screwing 
the  ramrod  into  the  wad  over  the  slugs,  standing  close 
alongside  of  the  camel.  At  this  moment  the  camel  gave  a 
lurch  to  one  side,  and  caught  his  pack  in  the  cock  of  my 
gun,  which  discharged  the  barrel  I  was  unloading,  the  con- 
tents of  which  first  took  off  the  middle  fingers  of  my  right 
hand  between  the  second  and  third  joints,  and  entered  my 
left  cheek  by  my  lower  jaw,  knocking  out  a  row  of  teeth 
from  my  upper  jaw." 

His  sufferings  were  agonising,  but  he  was  easy  between 
the  fearful  convulsions,  and  at  the  end  of  the  third  day 
after  he  had  reached  home,  whither  his  companions  had 
succeeded  in  conveying  him,  he  died  without  a  struggle. 

(ii.) — Captain  Stuet. 

Charles  Sturt,  whose  name  is  so  closely  bound  up  with 
the  exploration  of  the  Australian  interior,  had  settled  in 
the  new  colony  which  the  South  Australians  loyally  main- 
tain he  had  created  by  directing  attention  to  the  outlet 
of  the  Murray.  After  a  short  re-survey  of  the  river, 
from  the  point  where  Hume  crossed  it  to  the  junction  of 
the  Murray  and  Murrumbidgee,  which  had  been  one  of 
Mitchell's  tasks,  he  re-entered  civil  life  under  the  South 
Australian  Government.  He  was  now  married,  and 
settled  on  a  small  estate  which  he  was  farming,  not  far 
from  Adelaide.  In  1839  he  became  Surveyor-General, 
but  in  October  of  the  same  year  he  exchanged  this  office 
for  that  of  Commissioner  of  Lands,  which  he  held  until 
1843.  In  the  following  year  he  commenced  his  most 
arduous  and  best-known  journey,  a  journey  that  has  made 
the  names  of  " Sturt 's  Stony  Desert"  and  the  ''Depot 


154  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Glen"  known  all  over  the  world,  and  that  has,  unhappily 
for  Australia,  done  much  to  create  the  popular  fallacy 
that  the  soil  and  climate  of  the  interior  are  such  as 
preclude  comfortable  settlement  by  whites.  Sturt's 
graphic  account  is  at  times  somewhat  misleading,  and  the 
lapse  of  years  has  proved  his  denunciatory  judgment 
of  the  fitness  of  the  interior  for  human  habitation  to 
have  been  hasty.  But  if  we  examine  the  circumstances 
in  which  he  received  the  impressions  he  has  recorded, 
we  must  grant  that  he  had  considerable  justification  for 
his  statements. 

He  was  a  broken  and  disappointed  man,  worn  out  by 
disease  and  frustrated  hopes,  and  nearly  blind.  During 
six  months  of  his  long  absence,  he  had  been  shut  up  in 
his  weary  depot  prison,  debarred  from  attempting  the 
completion  of  his  work,  and  compelled  to  watch  his  friend 
and  companion  die  a  lingering  death  from  scurvy.  And 
when  the  kindly  rains  released  him,  he  was  doomed  to 
be  repulsed  by  the  ever-present  desert  wastes.  No 
wonder  that  he  despaired  of  the  country,  and 
viewed  all  its  prospects  through  the  heated,  treacherous 
haze  of  the  desert  plains.  Yet  now,  close  to  the  ranges 
where  Sturt  spent  the  burning  summer  months  of  his 
detention,  there  has  sprung  up  one  of  the  inland  town- 
ships of  New  South  Wales,  where  men  toil  just  as 
laboriously  as  in  a  more  temperate  zone. 

But,  though  baffled  and  unable  to  win  the  goal  he  strove 
for,  never  did  man  better  deserve  success.  The 
instructions  that  he  received  from  the  Home  Office  were, 
to  reach  the  centre  of  the  continent,  to  discover  whether 
mountains  or  sea  existed  there,  and,  if  the  former,  to 
note  the  flow  and  direction  of  the  northern  waters,  but  on 
no  account  to  follow  them  down  to  the  north  coast.  Sturt 
was  instructed  to  proceed  by  Mt.  Arden,  a  route  already 
tried,  condemned,  and  abandoned  by  Eyre ;  and  he  elected 
to  proceed  by  way  of  the  Darling.  His  plan  was  to  follow 
that  river  up  as  far  as  the  Williora,  a  small  western 
tributary  of  the  Darling,  opposite  the  place  whence 
Mitchell  turned  back  in  1835,  after  his  conflict  with  the 
natives,  an  episode  which  Sturt  found  that  they  bitterly 


ATTEMPTS    TO    EEACH    THE    CENTRE 


155 


156  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

remembered.  Poole,  Sturt's  second  in  command, 
resembling  Mitchell  in  figure  and  appearance,  the  Darling 
blacks  addressed  him  as  Major,  and  evinced  marked 
hostility  towards  him.  From  Williora,  or  Laidley's 
Ponds,  Sturt  intended  to  strike  north-west,  hoping  thus 
to  avoid  the  gloomy  environs  of  Lake  Torrens,  and  the 
treacherous  surface  of  its  bed.  At  Moorundi,  on  the 
Murray,  where  Eyre  was  then  stationed  as  Eesident 
Magistrate,  the  party  was  mustered  and  the  start  made. 

In  addition  to  Poole,  Sturt  was  accompanied  by  Dr. 
Browne,  a  thorough  bushman  and  an  excellent  surgeon, 
who  went  as  a  volunteer  and  personal  friend.  With  the 
party  as  surveyor's  draftsman,  went  McDouall  Stuart, 
whose  fame  as  explorer  was  afterwards  destined  nearly 
to  equal  that  of  his  leader.  In  addition  there  were 
twelve  men,  eleven  horses,  one  spring-cart,  three  bullock- 
drays,  thirty  bullocks,  one  horse-dray,  two  hundred  sheep, 
four  kangaroo  dogs,  and  two  sheep  dogs. 

Eyre  accompanied  the  expedition  as  far  as  Lake 
Victoria,  which  they  reached  on  the  10th  of  September, 
1844.  On  the  11th  of  October  they  arrived  at  Laidley's 
Ponds.  This  was  the  place  from  which  Sturt  intended 
to  leave  the  Darling  for  the  interior,  and  where  he 
expected  to  find,  from  the  account  given  him  by  the 
natives,  a  fair-sized  creek  heading  from  a  low  range, 
visible  at  a  distance  to  the  north-west.  But  he  found  the 
stream  to  be  a  raere  surface  channel,  distributing  the 
flood  water  of  the  Darling  into  some  shallow  lakes  about 
seven  or  eight  miles  distant.  Sturt  despatched  Poole  and 
Stuart  to  this  range  to  see  if  they  could  obtain  a  glimpse 
of  the  country  beyond  to  the  north-west. 

They  returned  with  the  rather  startling  intelligence 
that,  from  the  top  of  a  peak  of  the"  range,  Poole  had  seen 
a  large  lake  studded  with  islands. 

Although  in  his  published  journal,  written  some  time 
after  his  return,  Sturt  makes  light  of  Poole's  fancied 
lake,  which  of  course  was  the  effect  of  a  mirage,  at  that 
time  his  ardent  fancy,  and  the  extreme  likelihood  of  the 
existence  of  a  lake  in  that  locality,  made  him  believe  that 


ATTEMPTS    TO    KEACH    THE    CENTRE  157 

he  was  on  the  eve  of  an  important  discovery.  In  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Morphett  of  Adelaide,  he  wrote: — 

''Poole  has  just  returned  from  the  range.  I  have  not 
time  to  write  over  again.  He  says  there  are  high  ranges 
to  the  N.  and  N.W.,  and  water,  a  sea,  extending  along  the 
horizon  from  S.W.  by  S.  and  then  E.  of  N.,  in  which  there 
are  a  number  of  lofty  ranges  and  islands,  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach.  What  is  all  this?  To-morrow  we  start 
for  the  ranges,  and  then  for  the  waters,  the  strange 
waters,  on  which  boat  never  swam  and  over  which  flag 
never  floated.  But  both  shall  ere  long.  We  have  the 
heart  of  the  interior  laid  open  to  us,  and  shall  be  off  with 
a  flowing  sheet  in  a  few  days.  Poole  says  that  the  sea 
was  a  deep  blue,  and  that  in  the  midst  of  it  was  a  conical 
island  of  great  height." 

Poor  Sturt!  No  boat  was  ever  to  float  upon  that 
visionary  sea,  nor  flag  to  wave  over  those  dream-born 
waters.  To  those  who  know  the  experiences  that  awaited 
the  expedition,  it  is  pathetic  to  read  of  the  leader's 
soaring  hopes,  as  delusive  as  the  desert  mirage  itself. 

The  whole  of  the  party  now  removed  to  a  small  shallow 
lakelet,  the  commencement  of  the  Williora  channel 
(Laidley's  Ponds).  After  a  short  excursion  to  the 
distant  ranges  reported  by  Poole,  Sturt,  accompanied 
by  Browne  and  two  men,  went^  ahead  for  the  purpose  of 
finding  water  of  a  sufficient  permanency  to  remove  the 
whole  of  the  party  to.  At  the  small  lake  where  they  were 
then  encamped,  there  was  the  ever-present  likelihood  of 
a  conflict  with  the  pugnacious  natives  of  the  Darling.  He 
was  successful  in  finding  what  he  wanted,  and  on  the 
4th  of  November  the  main  body  of  the  expedition,  finally 
leaving  the  Darling  basin,  removed  to  the  new  water 
depot. 

The  next  day  Sturt,  with  Browne  and  three  men  and 
the  cart,  started  on  another  trip  in  search  of  water  ahead. 
This  was  found  in  small  quantities,  but  rain  coming  on, 
Sturt  returned  and  sent  Poole  out  again  to  search  while 
the  camp  was  being  moved.  On  his  return,  Poole 
reported  having  seen  some  brackish  lakes,  and  also 
having  caught  sight  of  Eyre's  Mt.  Serle.    They  were  now 


158  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

well  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Barrier  Range,  and,  but 
for  the  providential  discovery  of  a  fine  creek  to  the 
northward,  which  was  called  Flood's  creek,  after  one  of 
the  party,  they  would  have  been  unable  to  maintain  their 
position.  To  Flood's  creek  the  camp  was  removed,  and 
Sturt  congratulated  himself  on  the  steady  and 
satisfactory  progress  he  was  making. 

The  party  now  left  the  Barrier  Range,  and  followed  a 
course  to  another  range  further  north,  staying  for  some 
time  at  a  small  lagoon  while  engaged  in  making 
an  examination  of  the  country  ahead.  On  the  27th  of 
January,  1845,  they  camped  on  a  creek  rising  in  a  small 
range,  and  affording,  at  its  head,  a  fine  supply  of 
permanent  water.  When  upon  its  banks  the  explorers 
pitched  their  tents,  they  little  thought  that  it  would  be 
the  17th  of  the  following  July  before  they  would  strike 
camp  again.  This  was  the  Depot  Glen,  and  an  extract 
from  Sturt 's  journal  depicts  the  situation  of  the  party : — 

*'It  was  not,  however,  until  after  we  had  run  down 
every  creek  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  had  traversed  the 
country  in  every  direction,  that  the  truth  flashed  across 
my  mind,  and  it  became  evident  to  me  that  we  were  locked 
up  in  the  desolate  and  heated  region  into  which  we  had 
penetrated,  as  effectually  as  if  we  had  wintered  at  the 
Pole.  It  was  long,  indeed,  ere  I  could  bring  myself  to 
believe  that  so  great  a  misfortune  had  overtaken  us,  but 
so  it  was.  Providence  had,  in  its  all  wise  purposes, 
guided  us  to  the  only  spot  in  that  wide-spread  desert 
where  our  wants  could  have  been  permanently  supplied, 
but  had  there  stayed  our  further  progress  into  a  region 
that  almost  appears  to  be  forbidden  ground." 

This  then  was  Sturt 's  prison — a  small  creek  marked 
by  a  line  of  gum  trees,  issuing  from  a  glen  in  a  low  range. 
By  a  kindly  freak  of  nature,  enough  water  had  been 
confined  in  this  glen  to  provide  a  permanent  supply  for 
the  exploring  party  and  their  animals,  during  the  long 
term  of  their  detention. 

Of  Sturt 's  existence  and  occupation  during  this  dreary 
period  little  can  be  said.    He  tried  to  find  an  avenue  of 


ATTEMPTS    TO    EEACH    THE    CENTRE 


159 


i^tiiuii  uij  liev.  J.  M.  Curran. 

Sturt's  Depot  Glen.    The  Glen,  eroded  in  vertical  Silurian  slate,  is  less  than  a  mile  long. 
Poole  rests  by  the  creek  where  the  gorge  opens  quite  abruptly  on  to  a  vast  cretaceous 

plain. 


160  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

escape  in  every  direction,  until  convinced  of  the  futility 
of  the  attempt;  sometimes  encouraged  and  lured  on  by 
the  shallow  pools  in  some  fragmentary  creek,  at  others, 
seeing  nothing  before  him  but  hopeless  aridity.  Now, 
too,  he  found  himself  attacked  with  what  he  then  thought 
to  be  rheumatism,  but  which  proved  to  be  scurvy.  Poole 
and  Browne  were  afflicted  in  the  same  manner. 

Sturt  made  one  desperate  attempt  to  the  north  during 
his  imprisonment  in  the  Depot  Glen,  and  succeeded  in 
reaching  a  point  one  mile  beyond  the  28th  parallel,  but 
further  north  he  could  not  advance,  nor  did  he  find  any 
inducement  to  risk  the  safety  of  his  party. 

There  passed  weeks  of  awesome  monotony,  relieved  by 
one  strange  episode.  From  the  apparent^  lifeless 
wilderness  around  them  there  strayed  an  old  aboriginal 
into  their  camp.  He  was  hungry  and  athirst,  and  in 
complete  keeping  with  the  gaunt  waste  from  which  he 
had  emerged.  The  dogs  attacked  him  when  he 
approached,  but  he  stood  his  ground  and  fought  them 
valiantly  until  they  were  called  off.  His  whole 
demeanour  was  calm  and  courageous,  and  he  showed 
neither  surprise  nor  timidity.  He  drank  greedily  when 
water  was  given  to  him,  ate  voraciously,  and  accepted 
every  service  rendered  to  him  as  a  duty  to  be  discharged 
by  one  fellow-being  to  another  when  cut  off  in  the  desert 
from  his  kin.  He  stopped  at  the  camp  for  some  time 
and  recognised  the  boat,  explaining  that  it  was  upside 
down,  as  of  course  it  was,  and  pointing  to  the  N.W.  as 
the  region  where  they  would  use  it,  thus  raising  Sturt 's 
hopes  once  more.  Whence  he  came  they  could  not  divine, 
nor  could  he  explain  to  them.  After  a  fortnight  he 
departed,  giving  them  to  understand  that  he  would 
return,  but  they  never  saw  him  again. 

''With  him,"  writes  Sturt  pathetically,  ''all  our  hopes 
vanished,  for  even  the  presence  of  this  savage  was 
soothing  to  us,  and  so  long  as  he  remained  we  indulged 
in  anticipations  for  the  future.  From  the  time  of  his 
departure  a  gloomy  silence  pervaded  the  camp;  we  were 
indeed  placed  under  the  most  trying  circumstances; 
everything  combined  to  depress  our  spirits  and  exhaust 


ATTEMPTS    TO    REACH    THE    CENTEE  161 

our  patience.  We  had  witnessed  migration  after 
migration  of  the  feathered  tribes,  to  that  point  to  which 
we  were  so  anxious  to  push  our  way.  Flights  of  cockatoos, 
of  parrots,  of  pigeons,  and  of  bitterns ;  birds  also  whose 
notes  had  cheered  us  in  the  wilderness,  all  had  taken  the 
same  road  to  a  better  and  more  hospitable  region. ' ' 

And  now  the  water  began  to  sink  with  frightful 
rapidity,  and  all  thought  that  surely  the  end  must  be  near. 
Hoping  against  hope,  Sturt  laid  his  plans  to  start  as  soon 
as  the  drought  broke  up.  He  himself  was  to  proceed 
north  and  west,  whilst  poor  Poole,  reduced  to  a  frightful 
condition  by  scurvy,  was  to  be  sent  carefully  back  to  the 
Darling,  as  the  only  means  of  saving  his  life. 

On  the  12th  and  13th  of  June  the  rain  came,  and  the 
drought-beleaguered  invaders  of  the  desert  were  relieved. 
But  Poole  did  not  live  to  profit  by  the  rain.  Every 
arrangement  was  made  for  his  comfort  that  their 
circumstances  permitted,  but  on  the  first  day's  journey 
he  died.  His  body  was  brought  back  and  buried 
under  the  elevation  which  they  called  the  Red  Hill,  and 
which  is  now  known  as  Mount  Poole,  three  and  a-half 
miles  from  Depot  Camp. 

Sturt 's  way  was  now  open.  He  again  despatched  the 
party  selected  to  return  to  the  Darling,  whose  departure 
had  been  interrupted  by  Poole's  untimely  death,  and, 
with  renewed  hope,  made  his  preparations  for  the  long- 
denied  north-west. 

Having  first  removed  the  depot  to  a  better  grassed 
locality,  he  <made  a  short  trip  to  the  west.  On  the  4th 
of  August  he  found  himself  on  the  edge  of  an  immense 
shallow,  sandy  basin,  in  which  water  was  standing  in 
detached  sheets,  ''as  blue  as  indigo,  and  as  salt  as 
brine."  This  he  took  to  be  a  part  of  Lake  Torrens.  He 
returned  to  the  new  depot,  called  Fort  Grey,  which  was 
sixty  or  seventy  miles  to  the  north-west  of  the  Glen,  and 
arranged  matters  for  his  final  departure. 

McDouall  Stuart  was  left  in  charge  of  the  depot.  Dr. 
Browne  accompanied  the  leader,  and  on  the  14th  of 
August  a  start  was  made.  For  some  distance,  owing  to 
the  pools  of  surface  water  left  by  the  recent  rain,  they 

M 


162  EXPLOEERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

had  no  difficulty  in  keeping  a  straightforward  course. 
The  country  they  passed  over  consisted  of  large,  level 
plains,  intersected  by  sand-ridges;  but  they  crossed 
numerous  creeks  with  more  or  less  water  in  all  of  them. 
To  one  of  these  creeks  Sturt  gave  the  name  of  Strzelecki. 
Finally  they  reached  a  well-grassed  region  which  greatly 
cheered  them  with  the  prospect  of  success  it  held  out. 
Suddenly  they  were  confronted  with  a  wall  of  sand ;  and 
for  nearly  twenty  miles  they  toiled  over  successive 
ridges.  Fortunately  they  found  both  water  and  grass, 
but  the  unexpected  check  to  their  brighter  anticipations 
was  depressing.  Nor  did  a  walk  to  the  extremity  of  one 
of  the  ridges  serve  to  raise  their  spirits. 

Sturt  saw  before  him  what  he  describes  as  an  immense 
plain,  of  a  dark  purple  hue,  with  a  horizon  like  that  of 
the  sea,  boundless  in  the  direction  in  which  he  wished 
to  proceed.  This  was  Sturt 's  ''Stony  Desert."  That 
night  they  camped  within  its  dreary  confines,  and  during 
the  next  day  crossed  an  earthy  plain,  with  here  and 
there  a  few  bushes  of  polygonum  growing  beside  some 
straggling  channel  in  which  they  occasionally  found  a 
little  muddy  rain-water  remaining.  At  night,  when  they 
camped  just  before  dusk,  they  sighted  some  hills  to  the 
north,  and,  on  examining  them  through  the  telescope, 
they  discerned  dark  shadows  on  the  faces,  as  if  produced 
by  cliffs.  Next  morning  they  made  for  these  hills,  in  the 
hope  of  finding  a  change  of  country  and  feed  for  the 
horses,  but  they  were  disappointed.  Sand  ridges  in 
repulsive  array  confronted  them  once  more.  "Even  the 
animals,"  writes  Sturt,  "appeared  to  regard  them  with 
dismay. ' ' 

Over  plains  and  sand  dunes,  the  former  full  of 
yawning  cracks  and  holes,  the  party  pushed  on,  subsisting 
on  scanty  pools  of  muddy  water  and  fast-sinking 
native  wells.  On  the  3rd  of  September,  Flood,  the  stock- 
man, who  was  riding  in  the  lead,  lifted  his  hat  and  waved  it 
on  high,  calling  to  the  others  that  a  large  creek  was  in 
sight. 


ATTEMPTS    TO    EEACH    THE    CENTRE 


163 


P)wto  by  liev.  J.  M.  Curran. 
Poole's  Grave  and  Monument,  near  Depot  Glen,  Tibbubiirra,  New  South  Wales. 


164  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

When  the  main  party  came  up,  they  feasted  their  eyes 
on  a  beautiful  watercourse,  its  bed  studded  with 
pools  of  water  and  its  banks  clothed  with  grass.  This 
creek  Sturt  named  Eyre's  Creek,  and  it  was  an  important 
discovery  in  the  drainage  system  of  the  region  that  he 
was  then  traversing. 

Along  this  new-found  watercourse,  they  were  enabled 
to  make  easy  stages  for  five  days,  when  the  course  of 
the  creek  was  lost ;  nor  could  any  continuation  be  traced. 
The  lagoons,  too,  that  were  found  a  short  distance  from 
the  banks,  proved  to  be  intensely  salt.  Eepeated  efforts 
to  continue  his  journey  to  other  points  of  the  compass 
only  led  Sturt  amongst  the  terrible  sandhills,  their 
parallel  rows  separated  by  barren  plains  encrusted  with 
salt.  Sturt  now  came  to  the  erroneous  conclusion  that 
he  had  reached  the  head  of  Eyre 's  Creek,  and  that  further 
progress  was  effectually  barred  by  a  waterless  tract  of 
country.  In  fact,  he  was  then  within  reach  of  a  well- 
watered  river,  along  which  he  could  have  travelled  right 
up  to  the  main  dividing  range  of  the  northern  coast.  But 
Sturt  was  baffled  in  the  most  depressed  area  on  the 
surface  of  the  continent,  where  rivers  and  creeks  lost 
their  identity  in  the  numberless  channels  into  which  they 
divided  before  reaching  their  final  home  in  the  thirsty 
shallows  of  the  then  unknown  Lake  Eyre.  There  was 
neither  sign  nor  clue  afforded  him;  his  men  were  sick, 
and  any  further  progress  would  jeopardise  his  retreat. 
There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  fall  back  once  more ;  and, 
after  a  toilsome  journey,  they  reached  Fort  Grey  on 
the  2nd  of  October. 

Sturt 's  last  effort  had  been  made  to  the  west  of  north; 
he  now  made  up  his  mind  for  a  final  effort  due  north. 
Before  starting,  however,  he  begged  of  Browne,  who  was 
still  suffering,  to  retreat,  while  the  way  was  yet  open, 
to  the  Darling.  This  Browne  resolutely  refused  to  do; 
stating  that  it  was  his  intention  to  share  the  fate  of  the 
expedition.  The  9th  of  October  saw  Sturt  again  under 
way  to  the  seemingly  forbidden  north,  Stuart  and  two 


ATTEMPTS    TO    EEACH    THE    CENTRE  165 

fresh  men  accompanying  him.  On  the  second  day  they 
reached  Strzelecki  Creek,  and  on  the  13th  they  came 
on  to  the  bank  of  a  magnificent  channel,  with  fine  trees 
growing  on  its  grassy  banks,  and  abundance  of  water 
in  the  bed.  This  was  the  now  well-known  Cooper's 
Creek,  which  Sturt,  on  his  late  trip,  had  crossed 
unnoticed,  as  it  was  then  dry  and  divided  into  several 
channels  on  their  route.  This  was  the  most  important 
discovery  made  in  connection  with  the  lake  system, 
Cooper's  Creek  being  one  of  the  far-reaching  affluents, 
its  tributaries  draining  the  inland  slopes  of  the  main 
dividing  range. 

Sturt,  on  making  this  unexpected  discovery,  was 
undecided  whether  to  follow  Cooper's  Creek  up  to  the 
eastward  or  persevere  in  his  original  intention  of  pushing 
to  the  north.  A  thunder-storm  falling  at  the  time  made 
him  adhere  to  his  original  determination,  and  defer  the 
examination  of  the  new  river  until  his  return. 

Seven  days  after  crossing  Cooper's  Creek,  he  had  the 
negative  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  gloomy  forebodings 
fulfilled.  Once  more  he  gazed  over  the  dreary  waste 
of  the  ''stony  desert,"  unchanged  and  repellant  as  ever. 
They  crossed  it,  but  were  again  turned  back  by  sandhill 
and  salt  plain,  and  forced  to  retrace  their  steps  to 
Cooper's  Creek,  This  creek  Sturt  followed  up  for  many 
days,  but  found  that  it  came  from  a  more  easterly 
direction  than  the  route  he  desired  to  travel  along ;  more- 
over, the  one  broad  channel  that  they  had  commenced 
to  follow  became  divided  into  several  ana-branches, 
running  through  plains  subject  to  inundation.  This 
became  so  tiring  to  their  now  exhausted  horses,  who 
were  wofully  footsore,  that  he  reluctantly  turned  back. 
He  had  found  the  creek  peopled  with  well-nurtured 
natives,  and  the  prospects  of  advancing  were  brighter 
than  they  had  ever  been;  but  both  Sturt  and  his  men 
were  weak  and  ill,  and  the  horses  almost  incapable  of 
further  effort.  Moreover,  he  was  not  certain  of  his 
retreat. 


166  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

As  they  went  down  Cooper's  Creek  on  their  way  back, 
they  found  that  the  water  was  drying  up  so  rapidly  that 
grave  fears  were  entertained  lest  Strzelecki's  Creek, 
their  main  resource  in  getting  back  to  Fort  Grey,  should 
be  dry.  Fortunately  they  were  in  time  to  find  a  little 
muddy  fluid  left,  just  enough  to  serve  their  needs.  Here, 
though  most  anxious  to  get  on,  they  were  forced  to  camp 
the  whole  of  one  day,  on  account  of  an  extremely  fierce 
hot  wind. 

Sturt's  vivid  account  of  the  day  spent  during  the  blast 
of  that  furnace-like  sirocco  has  been  oft  quoted.  But  the 
reader  should  remember  when  reading  it  that  the  man 
who  wrote  it  was  in  such  a  weakened  condition  that  he 
had  not  sufficient  energy  left  to  withstand  the  hot  wind, 
whilst  the  shade  under  which  the  party  sought  shelter 
was  of  the  scantiest  description. 

They  had  still  a  distance  of  eighty-six  miles  to  cover 
to  get  back  to  Fort  Grey,  with  but  little  prospect  of 
finding  water  on  the  way.  After  a  long  and  weary  ride 
they  reached  it,  only  to  find  the  tents  struck,  the  flag 
hauled  down,  and  the  Fort  abandoned.  The  bad  state 
of  the  water  and  the  steady  diminution  of  supply  had 
forced  Browne  to  fall  back  to  Depot  Glen.  Riding  day 
and  night  Sturt  reached  the  old  encampment,  so 
exhausted  that  he  could  hardly  stand  after  dismounting. 

The  problem  of  their  final  escape  had  now  to  be 
resolved.  The  water  in  Depot  Creek  was  reduced  so  low 
that  they  feared  there  would  be  none  left  in  Flood 's 
Creek.  If  this  failed,  they  were  once  more  imprisoned. 
Browne,  now  much  recovered,  undertook  the  long  ride 
of  one  hundred  and  eighteen  miles  which  would  decide 
the  question.  Preparations  had  been  made  for  his 
journey  by  filling  a  bullock  skin  with  water,  and  sending 
a  dray  with  it  as  far  as  possible.  On  the  eighth  day  he 
returned. 

''Well,  Browne,"  asked  Sturt,  who  was  helpless  in  his 
tent,  ''what  news?  Is  it  good  or  bad!"  "There  is  still 
water  in  the  creek,"  replied  Browne,  "but  that  is  all  I 


ATTEMPTS    TO    EEACH    THE    CENTRE  167 

can  say;  what  there  is  is  as  black  as  ink,  and  we  must 
make  haste,  for  in  a  week  it  will  be  gone." 

The  boat  that  was  to  have  floated  over  the  inland  sea 
was  left  to  rot  at  Depot  Glen.  All  the  heaviest  of  the 
stores  were  abandoned,  and  the  retreat  of  over  two 
hundred  miles  commenced. 

More  bullock-skins  were  fashioned  into  water-bags,  and 
with  their  aid  and  that  of  a  scanty  but  kindly  shower  of 
rain,  they  crossed  the  dry  stage  to  Flood's  Creek  in 
safety.  Here  they  found  the  growth  of  the  vegetation 
much  advanced,  and  with  care,  and  constant  activity  in 
searching  ahead  for  water,  they  gradually  increased 
the  distance  from  the  scene  of  their  sufferings,  and 
approached  the  Darling.  Sturt  had  to  be  carried  on  one 
of  the  drays,  and  lifted  on  and  off  at  each  stopping-place. 
On  the  21st  of  December,  they  arrived  at  the  camp  of 
the  relief -party  under  Piesse,  at  Williorara,  and  Sturt 's 
last  expedition  came  to  an  end. 

In  taking  leave  of  this  explorer,  we  quote  a  short 
extract  from  his  Journal  to  show  the  exalted  character 
of  the  man  whom  Australians  should  ever  regard 
with  the  greatest  of  pride : — 

''Circumstances  may  yet  arise  to  give  a  value  to  my 
recent  labours,  and  my  name  may  be  remembered  by 
after  generations  in  Australia  as  the  first  who  tried  to 
penetrate  to  its  centre.  If  I  failed  in  that  great  object, 
I  have  one  consolation  in  the  retrospect  of  my  past 
services.  My  path  among  savage  tribes  has  been  a 
bloodless  one,  not  but  that  I  have  often  been  placed  in 
situations  of  risk  and  danger,  when  I  might  have  been 
justified  in  shedding  blood,  but  I  trust  I  have  ever  made 
allowance  for  human  timidity,  and  respected  the  customs 
of  the  rudest  people." 

Sturt 's  health  and  eyesight  had  been  greatly  impaired 
by  his  last  trip,  but  although  he  was  for  a  time  almost 
totally  blind,  he  still  managed  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  Colonial  Secretary.  He  was  at  last  pensioned  by  the 
South  Australian    Government,    and    soon    afterwards 


168  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

returned  to  England.  He  died  at  his  residence  at 
Cheltenham.  Though  the  Home  Office  had  treated  him 
disgracefully  during  his  life,  and  ignored  his  services, 
he  lives  for  ever  in  the  hearts  of  the  Australians  as  the 
hero  and  chief  figure  of  the  exploration  of  their  country. 
When  he  was  on  his  death-bed,  in  1869,  the  empty  title  of 
knighthood  was  conferred  upon  him.  As  he  could  not 
enjoy  the  tardy  honour,  his  widow,  who  lived  till  1887. 
was  graciously  allowed  to  wear  the  bauble. 


Chapter  XIII. 
BABBAGE  AND  STUART. 


(i.) — B.  Herschel  Babbage. 

The  unsolved  problem  of  the  extent  and  other  details 
of  that  vast  region  of  salt  lakes  and  flat  country  then 
known  under  the  generic  name  of  Lake  Torrens  still 
greatly  occupied  the  attention  and  excited  the 
imaginations  of  the  colonists  of  South  Australia.  And 
the  accounts  brought 
back  by  the  different 
exploring  parties  were 
conflicting  in  the  ex- 
treme. In  1851,  two 
squatters,  named  Oak- 
den  and  Hulkes,  out  run- 
hunting,  pushed  west- 
ward of  Lake  Torrens, 
and  found  suitable  graz- 
ing country.  They  also 
discovered  a  lake  of 
fresh  water,  and  heard 
from  the  natives  of  other 
lakes  to  the  north-west 
some  fabulous  legends 
of  strange  animals. 
Their  horses  giving  in, 
Oakden  and  Hulkes  re- 
turned,    but     although 

they  applied  for  a  squatting  license  for  the 
country  they  had  been  over,  it  was  not  then  settled  or 
stocked.  In  1856,  Surveyor  Babbage  made  some 
explorations  in  the  field  partly  traversed  by  Eyre  and 
Frome.     He  penetrated  through   the   plains   that  were 

169 


B.  Herschel  Babbage. 
Born  1815;  died  1878. 


170  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

supposed  to  occupy  the  central  portion  of  the  horseshoe 
formation  at  that  time  associated  in  the  public  opinion 
with  Lake  Torrens.  More  fortunate  than  his 
predecessors,  he  found  permanent  water  in  a  gum-tree 
creek,  and  saw  some  fair-sized  sheets  of  water,  one  of 
which  he  named  Blanche  Water,  or  Lake  Blanche.  Some 
further  excursions  led  to  the  discovery  of  more  fresh 
water  and  well-grassed  pastoral  country.  The 
aboriginals,  too,  directed  him  to  what  they  said  was  a 
crossing-place  in  that  portion  of  Lake  Torrens  that  had 
been  sighted,  in  1845,  by  Poole  and  Browne  of  Captain 
Sturt's  party,  when  Poole  thought  he  saw  an  inland  sea. 
Their  directions,  however,  proved  unreliable,  or  Babbage 
failed  to  find  the  place,  for  he  lost  his  horse  in  the  attempt 
to  cross  the  lake. 

In  1857,  another  excursion  to  the  westward  of  Lake 
Torrens  was  made  by  a  Mr.  Campbell,  who  discovered 
a  creek  of  fresh  water,  which  he  called  the  Elizabeth. 
He  also  visited  Lake  Torrens,  of  which  he  reported  in 
similar  terms  to  those  of  previous  explorers — that  it  was 
surrounded  with  barren  country. 

Li  April  of  the  same  year,  a  survey  conducted  by 
Deputy  Surveyor-General  Goyder,  over  the  same  country 
as  that  lately  explored  by  Babbage,  led  to  some  absurd 
mistakes.  A  few  miles  north  of  Blanche  Water  he  came 
to  many  surface  springs  surrounding  a  fine  lagoon.  To 
the  north  of  them  was  an  isolated  hill,  which  he  called 
Weathered  Hill.  From  the  summit  of  this  hill  he  had  a 
curious  example  of  the  effects  of  refraction  in  this  region 
in  a  similar  illusion  to  that  which  suggested  Poole's 
inland  sea.  To  the  northward  he  saw  a  belt  of  gigantic 
gum-trees,  and  beyond  them  what  appeared  to  be  a  sheet 
of  water  with  elevated  land  on  the  far  side.  To  the 
eastward,  was  another  large  lake.  But  all  this  was  but 
the  glamourie  of  the  desert — on  closer  examination  the 
gigantic  gums  dwindled  down  to  stunted  bushes,  and  the 
mountainous  ground  to  broken  clods  of  earth. 

But  the  greatest  surprise  reserved  for  Goyder  was  at 
Lake  Torrens,  where  he  found  the  water  quite  fresh. 


BABBAGE    AND    STUART  171 

He  described  the  Lake  as  stretching  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  miles  to  the  north-west,  with  a  water  horizon,  with 
an  extensive  bay  forming  to  the  southward;  while  to  the 
north,  a  bluff  headland  and  perpendicular  cliffs  were 
clearly  to  be  discerned  with  the  telescope.  From  the 
appearance  of  the  flood-marks,  Goyder  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  little  or  no  rise  and  fall  in  the 
lake,  drawing  the  natural  conclusion  that  its  size  was 
such  as  not  to  be  influenced  appreciably  by  flood  waters, 
but  that  it  absorbed  them  without  showing  any  variation 
in  its  level. 

Adelaide  was  overjoyed  at  the  news.  The  threatening 
desert  that  hemmed  in  their  fair  province  to  the  north 
was  suddenl}^  converted  into  a  land  of  milk  and  honey. 
The  Surveyor-General,  Colonel  Freeling,  immediately 
started  out,  taking  with  him  both  a  boat  and  an  iron  punt 
with  which  to  float  on  these  new  waters.  But  there  was 
a  sudden  fall  to  their  hopes  when  a  letter  was  received 
from  him  stating  that  the  cliffs,  the  bay,  and  the  head- 
lands were  all  built  up  on  the  airy  foundation  of  a  mirage. 
The  elves  and  sprites  of  this  desolate  region  had  been 
playing  a  hoax  upon  Goyder 's  party.  But  it  is  no  wonder 
that  Goyder  had  been  so  open  to  deception  after 
unexpectedly  finding  fresh  water  in  the  lake  that  had 
been  so  long  known  as  Salter  than  the  sea. 

On  reaching  the  lake,  Freeling  found  the  water  still 
almost  fresh;  but  one  of  Goyder 's  men  who  accompanied 
him,  told  liijoa  that  it  had  already  receded  half-a-mile 
since  the  latter 's  visit.  An  attempt  to  float  the  punt  was 
made,  but  after  dragging  it  through  mud  and  a  few 
inches  of  water  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the  men  aban- 
doned the  attempt  as  hopeless.  Freeling  and  some  of 
the  party  then  started  to  wade  through  the  slush,  but 
after  proceeding  three  miles,  and  then  sounding  only  six 
inches  of  water,  they  returned.  Some  of  the  more 
adventurous  extended  their  muddy  wade,  but  only  met 
with  a  similar  result.  Lake  Torrens  was  re-invested 
with  its  evil  name,  only  somewhat  shrunken  in 
proportions. 


172  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

In  the  same  year,  1857,  Stephen  Hack  started  with  a 
party  from  Streaky  Bay  to  examine  the  Gawler  Range 
of  Eyre,  and  investigate  the  country  west  of  Lake 
Torrens.  He  reached  the  Gawler  Eange  and  examined 
the  country  very  carefully,  finding  numerous  fresh-water 
springs,  and  large  plains  covered  with  both  grass  and 
saltbush.  He  also  discovered  a  large  salt  lake.  Lake 
Gairdner.  Simultaneously  with  Hack's  expedition,  a 
party  under  Major  Warburton  was  out  in  the  same 
neighbourhood;  in  fact.  Hack's  party  crossed 
Warburton 's  tracks  on  one  or  two  occasions.  Strange  to 
say,  the  reports  of  the  two  were  flatly  contradictory. 
Warburton  described  the  country  as  dry  and  arid;  but 
Hack's  account  was  distinctly  favourable.  Of  the  two 
men,  however,  it  is  most  probable  that  Hack  possessed 
the  more  experience  and  knowledge  of  country,  and, 
moreover.  Time,  the  great  arbitrator,  has  endorsed  his 
words. 

The  year  1857  saw  much  exploration  done  in  South 
Australia.  One  party,  consisting  of  Swinden,  Campbell, 
Thompson,  and  Stock,  at  about  seventy  miles  from  the 
head  of  Spencer's  Gulf,  found  good  pastoral  country 
and  a  permanent  water-hole  called  by  the  natives 
"Pernatty."  To  the  north  they  came  upon  Campbell's 
former  discovery  of  the  Elizabeth,  but  their  provisions 
failing,  they  were  forced  to  return. 

A  month  afterwards  Swinden  started  again  from 
''Pernatty."  North  of  the  Gawler  Eange  he  found 
available  pastoral  country,  which  became  known  as 
Swinden 's  country.  During  this  year  also.  Miller  and 
Button  explored  the  country  at  the  back  of  Fowler's 
Bay.  Forty  miles  to  the  north  they  saw  treeless,  grassy 
plains  stretching  far  inland,  but  could  find  no  permanent 
water.  Warburton  afterwards  reported  in  depreciatory 
terms  of  this  region;  but  Delisser  and  Hardwicke,  who 
also  visited  it,  stated  that  it  would  make  first-class 
pastoral  country  if  only  surface  water  could  be  obtained. 
During  the  whole  of  Warburton 's  career,  his  judgment 
of  the  pastoral  value  of  country  seems  to  have  been 
lamentablv  defective.     He  made  no  allowance  for  the 


BABBAGE    AND    STUART  173 

varying  nature  of  the  seasons.  A  suggestion  that  he 
made  to  the  South  Australian  Government  to  explore  the 
interior,  which  had  turned  back  such  men  as  Sturt  and 
Gregory,  with  the  aid  of  the  police,  verges  on  the 
ludicrous. 

In  1858,  the  South  Australian  Government  voted  a 
sum  of  money  to  fit  out  a  party  to  continue  the  northern 
explorations.  This  party  was  put  under  the  leadership 
of  Babbage;  but  he  was  not  given  a  free  hand,  being 
hampered  with  official  instructions,  and  there  being  no 
allowance  made  for  unforeseen  exigencies.  His 
instructions  were  to  examine  the  country  between  Lakes 
Torrens  and  Gairdner,  and  to  map  the  respective  western 
and  eastern  shores  of  the  two  lakes,  so  as  to  remove  for 
the  future  any  doubt  as  to  their  actual  formation  and 
accurate  position.  This  alone,  apart  from  any  extended 
exploration,  meant  a  work  of  considerable  time;  but, 
unfortunately  for  the  surveyor  in  charge,  the  general 
public  was  just  then  eager  for  fresh  discoveries  of 
available  pastoral  land,  and  was  inclined  to  regard  survey 
work  as  of  secondary  importance.  It  took  several  months 
to  complete  the  survey  work  of  the  two  lakes,  and  when 
Babbage  returned  to  Port  Augusta  he  found  that  Harris, 
the  second  in  command  of  his  depot  camp,  had  started  to 
return  to  Adelaide  with  many  of  the  drays  and  horses. 
Babbage  rode  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  before  he  over- 
took him  at  Mount  Remarkable,  and  there  learned  that 
the  South  Australian  Government  had  changed  its  official 
mind  with  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the  expedition,  and 
had  decided  that  it  should  be  conducted  in  future  with 
pack-horses  only.  , 

It  was  A.  C.  Gregory's  arrival  in  Adelaide  with  pack- 
horses  from  his  last  expedition  down  the  Barcoo,  that 
had  led  to  this  change  of  tactics.  Charles  Gregory,  who 
had  accompanied  his  brother,  was  now  engaged  by  the 
Government  to  overtake  Babbage  and  acquaint  him  with 
their  intention,  but  when  he  reached  Port  Augusta, 
Gregory  took  it  upon  himself  to  order  the  drays  home, 
Babbage  being  away  surveying.    Babbage  overtook  them 


174  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

and  ordered  them  back ;  but  pleading  Government  orders, 
they  refused  to  return.  Babbage  wrote  to  the  authorities 
pointing  out  the  unfairness  of  their  action,  and,  mustering 
up  a  small  party,  returned  to  continue  his  work  with 
six  months'  provisions. 

On  this  occasion,  Babbage  gave  more  time  to  discovery 
than  he  had  done  before.  He  went  out  beyond  the  boun- 
daries of  his  survey,  and  pushed  on  to  Chambers  Creek, 
so  called  by  Stuart,  who  discovered  it  while  Babbage 
was  busy  at  Lake  Gairdner.  Babbage  traced  Chambers 
Creek  into  Lake  Eyre,  and  was  thus  the  first  discoverer 
of  this  lake,  which  he  called  Lake  Gregory.  He  found  a 
range  which  he  called  Hermit  Eange,  but  from  its  crest 
discerned  no  sign  of  Lake  Torrens,  thus  settling  a  certain 
limit  to  its  extension  to  the  north.  He  made  further 
explorations  to  the  west  of  Lake  Gregory,  now  Lake 
Eyre,  and  found  some  hot  springs.  Meanwhile,  during 
the  time  he  was  making  these  researches,  the  Government 
had,  in  a  very  high-handed  manner,  appointed  Warburton 
to  supersede  him.  Warburton  started  out  to  find 
Babbage,  taking  Charles  Gregory  as  his  second.  Failing 
to  find  him  at  the  Elizabeth,  he  followed  and  overtook 
him  at  the  newly-discovered  Lake  Gregory.  Warburton 
made  a  few  discoveries  while  seeking  for  Babbage, 
amongst  them  the  Douglas,  a  creek  which  was  afterwards 
of  great  assistance  to  Stuart,  and  the  Davenport  Range ; 
and  he  also  came  upon  some  fair  pastoral  country. 

Babbage 's  surveys  and  explorations  had  done  much 
to  clear  up  the  mysterj^  and  confusion  that  had  hitherto 
obscured  the  geography  of  the  salt  lake  region.  His 
discovery  of  Lake  Eyre  (Gregory)  and  of  the  complete 
isolation  of  Lake  Torrens,  reduced  the  component  parts 
of  that  huge  saline  basin  to  some  sort  of  method  and 
order.  In  addition  to  these  achievements,  Surveyor  Parry 
made  some  further  discoveries  both  of  fresh  wajter  and 
available  pastoral  country  to  the  eastward  of  the  Lake. 

B,  Herschel  Babbage  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  well- 
known  inventor  of  the  calculating  machine.  He  had  been 
educated  as  an  engineer,  and  for  a  considerable  time 
had  followed  his  profession  in  Europe.     He  had  been 


BABBAGE    AND    STUAET 


175 


engaged  on  several  main  lines  in  England,  and  had 
worked  in  conjunction  with  the  celebrated  Brunei.  He 
had  also  been  commissioned  by  the  Government  of 
Piedmont  to  report  on  a  line  across  the  Alps  by  way  of 
Mount  Cenis.  He  had  remained  in  Italy  some  years 
until  his  work  was  interrupted  by  the  revolution.  He 
had  returned  to  England,  and  had  subsequently  come 
to  South  Australia  in  1851,  in  the  ship  ^'Hydaspes."  He 
died  at  his  residence,  in  1878,  at  St.  Mary's,  South  Road, 
where  he  had  a  vineyard. 


(ii.) — JoHisr  MacDouall  Stuart. 

John  MacDouall  Stuart,  the  great  explorer  of  the 
centre  of  Australia,  arrived  in  South  Australia  in  1839. 
His  first  experience  of  Aus- 
tralian exploration  was  suffi- 
ciently trying,  gained  as  it 
was  when  he  was  acting  as  a 
draughtsman  with  Captain 
Sturt  on  his  last  arduous  ex- 
pedition. But  it  had  kindled 
in  him  a  high  ardour  for 
discovery,  and  fostered  a 
stubborn  resolution  to  carry 
through  whatever  he  under- 
took. 

He  commenced  his  early 
explorations  when  in  a  posi- 
tion to  do  so  independently, 
to  the  north-west  of  Swinden's  country,  in  search  of  some 
locality  called  by  the  natives  '  ^  Wingillpin. ' '  Not  finding 
it,  he  came  to  the  strange  conclusion  that  Wingillpin  and 
Cooper's  Creek  were  one  and  the  same,  although  he  was 
now  on  a  different  watershed.  He  also,  at  that  period, 
seems  to  have  entertained  somewhat  extensive  notions  of 
the  course  of  Cooper's  Creek,  as  in  one  part  of  his 
Journal  he  remarks  : — 

''My  only  hope  of  cutting  Cooper's  Creek  is  on  the 
other  side  of  the  range.     The  plain  we  crossed  to-day 


John  MacDouall  Stuart. 


176  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

resembles  those  of  the  Cooper,  also  the  grasses.  If  it 
is  not  there,  it  must  run  to  the  north-west,  and  form  the 
Glenelg  of  Captain  Grey." 

Now,  although  we  know  that  Grey  held  rather 
extravagant  notions  of  the  importance  of  the  Glenelg, 
even  he  would  not  have  thought  it  possible  for  the  Glenelg 
to  be  the  outlet  of  such  a  mighty  river  as  Cooper 's  Creek 
would  have  become  by  the  time  it  reached  the  north-west 
coast. 

Stuart's  horses  were  now  too  footsore  to  proceed  over 
the  stony  country  he  found  himself  then  in,  and  he  had 
no  spare  shoes  with  him.  Failing  therefore  to  find  the 
promised  land  of  Wingillpin,  although  he  had  passed 
over  much  good  and  well-watered  country,  he  turned 
to  the  south-west,  and  made  some  explorations  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Lake  Gairdner.  Before  this,  however, 
he  had  found  and  named  Chambers  Creek.  From  Lake 
Gairdner,  he  steered  for  Fowler's  Bay,  and  his 
description  of  some  of  the  country  he  passed  is  anything 
but  inviting.  From  a  spur  of  the  high  peak  that  he  named 
Mount  Fincke,  he  saw : — 

"A  prospect  gloomy  in  the  extreme:  I  could  see  a  long 
distance,  but  nothing  met  the  eye  save  a  dense  scrub,  as 
black  and  dismal  as  night." 

From  this  point  the  party  passed  into  a  sandy,  spinifex 
desert,  which  Stuart  says  was  worse  than  Sturt's;  there 
had  been  a  little  salt-bush  there,  but  here  there  was 
nothing  but  spinifex  to  be  found,  and  the  barren  ground 
provided  no  food  of  any  kind  for  the  horses. 

The  state  of  affairs  was  becoming  desperate  with  the 
little  band,  as  their  provisions  were  nearly  finished; 
and  though  the  leader  was  tempted  to  persist  in  the 
search  for  good  pastoral  country,  he  was  at  last  forced 
to  abandon  the  search  and  beat  a  hasty  retreat.  Dense 
scrub  and  the  same  ''dreary  dismal  desert,"  as  he  calls 
it  in  his  Journal,  surrounded  them  day  after  day.  Tired 
out  and  half- starved  they  reached  the  coast,  and  had  but 
two  meals  left  to  carry  them  to  Streaky  Bay,  where  they 


BABBAGE   AND   STUART 


177 


178  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

found  relief  at  Gibson's  station.  Here  the  sudden  change 
from  starvation  to  a  full  diet  invalided  most  of  them, 
and  Stuart  himself  was  very  ill  for  some  days.  Finally 
they  reached  Thompson's  station  at  Mount  Arden,  and 
there  Stuart's  first  expedition  terminated. 

But  this  severe  test  only  whetted  Stuart's  appetite  for 
further  exploration,  and  in  April,  1859,  he  made  another 
start.  After  crossing  over  some  of  the  already-traversed 
country,  Hergott,  one  of  his  companions,  found  the  now 
well-known  springs  that  bear  his  name.  Stuart  crossed 
his  former  discovery  of  Chambers  Creek,  and  made  for 
the  Davenport  Range,  discovered  by  Warburton,  finding 
many  of  the  mound  springs  that  characterize  some  parts 
of  the  interior.  On  the  6th  of  June  he  discovered  a  large 
creek,  which  he  called  the  Neale.  It  ran  through  very 
good  country,  and  Stuart  followed  it  down,  hoping  to 
find  it  increase  in  volume  and  value  as  he  went.  In  this 
he  was  not  disappointed,  as  large  plains  covered  with 
salt-bush  and  grass  were  found,  and  the  party 
encountered  several  more  springs.  After  satisfying  him- 
self of  the  extent  and  economic  value  of  the  country  he 
had  found,  Stuart  was  obliged  to  return;  for  his  horses' 
shoes  had  again  worn  out,  and  he  had  a  lively  and 
painful  remembrance  of  the  misery  which  his  horses  had 
suffered  before  from  lack  of  them. 

In  November  of  the  same  year,  he  made  a  third 
expedition  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Eyre,  but  there  is  little 
of  interest  attaching  to  the  Journal  of  this  trip,  as  his 
course  was  mostly  over  closely  explored  country.  He 
reached  the  Neale  again,  and  instituted  a  survey  of  the 
promising  pastoral  country  he  had  traversed  during  his 
last  trip,  approaching  at  times  to  within  sight  of  what  he 
calls  in  his  Journal  Lake  Torrens,  but  which  in  reality 
was  what  is  now  known  as  Lake  Eyre.  All  these  minor 
expeditions  of  Stuart's  may  be  looked  upon  as 
preparatory  to  his  great  struggle  to  find  an  available 
passage  through  the  unknown  fastnesses  of  the  centre  of 
the  continent. 


BABBAGE    AND    STUART  179 

It  was  in  1860  that  Stuart  made  the  first  of  his  daring 
and  stubborn  attempts  to  cross  Australia  from  south  to 
north.  The  South  Australian  Government  had  offered 
a  standing  reward  of  £2,000  for  the  man  who  should  first 
succeed  in  this  undertaking. 

Stuart's  party  on  his  first  trip  was  but  a  very  small 
one:  three  men  in  all,  with  but  thirteen  horses.  It  reads 
liliputian  compared  with  the  princely  cavalcade  that  later 
on  set  out  with  Burke  to  travel  over  comparatively  well- 
known  country,  involving  only  a  short  excursion  through 
a  land  without  natural  difficulties  or  obstacles;  and  yet 
it  actually  achieved  the  greatest  part  of  the  task  set  it. 

Stuart  started  from  Chambers  Creek,  but  for  part 
of  the  journey  he  was  of  course  travelling  over  country 
that  was  fairly  well-known  by  that  time.  After  passing 
the  Neale,  he  entered  untrodden  country,  which  proved 
to  be  good  available  pastoral  land.  Numerous 
well-watered  creeks  were  passed,  which  were  named 
respectively  the  Frew,  the  Fincke,  and  the  Stevenson, 
and  on  the  6th  of  April  they  reached  a  hill 
of  a  remarkable  shape,  which  had  for  some  time 
attracted  and  excited  their  attention  and  curiosity.  They 
found  it  to  be  a  column  of  sandstone,  on  the  apex  of  a 
hill.  The  hill  was  but  a  low  one  of  a  few  hundred  feet 
in  height,  but  the  sandstone  cplumn  that  surmounted  it 
was  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  height  and  twenty 
feet  in  width.  This  striking  object  was  named  by  Stuart 
Chambers^  Pillar,  to  commemorate  a  friend  who  had 
assisted  him  greatly  in  his  explorations.  It  stood 
amongst  other  elevations  of  fantastic  shapes  and 
grotesque  formations,  resembling  ruined  forts  and 
castles.  On  the  9th  of  April  they  sighted  two  remarkable 
bluffs,  and  on  the  12th  reached  the  range  of  which  the 
bluffs  formed  the  centre.  The  eastern  bluff  was  called 
Brinkley  Bluff  and  the  western  Hanson  Bluff ;  the  range, 
which  is  now  well-known  as  a  leading  geographical 
feature  of  Australia,  and  on  which  the  most  elevated 
peaks  in  the  interior  have  since  been  found,  Stuart  named 
the  MacDonnell  Range,  after  the  then  Governor  of  South 


180  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Australia.  The  little  band  crossed  the  range,  which  was 
rough  but  had  good  grass  on  its  slopes.  There  was, 
however,  a  scarcity  of  water;  for  they  were  now 
approaching  the  tropical  line,  and  on  reaching  the 
northern  slope  of  the  range  found  themselves  amongst 
spinifex  and  scrub,  and  obliged  to  undergo  two  nights 
without  water  for  the  horses.  At  a  high  peak,  which  was 
named  Mount  Freeling,  they  found  a  small  supply;  and 
as  it  was  now  evident  that  there  was  dry  country  ahead, 
a  more  careful  search  was  made  before  pushing  any 
further  forward,  in  order  to  ensure  certain  means  of 
retreat.  Fortunately  they  found,  amongst  some  ledges 
of  rock,  a  large  natural  reservoir,  which  promised  to  be 
permanent,  and  capable  of  supplying  their  wants  on  their 
homeward  way. 

On  the  22nd  of  April,  Stuart  camped  in  the  centre  of 
Australia,  on  the  spot  which  his  former  leader,  Sturt, 
had  vainly  undergone  so  much  suffering  to  reach;  and 
his  feeling  of  elation  must  have  been  tempered  with 
regret  that  his  old  leader  was  not  then  with  him  to  share 
this  success.  About  two  miles  and  a-half  to  the  North- 
North-East  there  was  a  tolerably  high  hill  which  he  called 
in  reality  Central  Mount  ''Sturt."  It  is  now,  however, 
erroneously  called  "Stuart,"  owing  to  the  publishers  of 
his  diary  having  misread  his  manuscript. 

Having,  in  company  with  his  tried  companion  Kekwick, 
climbed  the  mount,  he  erected  a  cairn  of  stones  at  the 
top  and  hoisted  the  Union  Jack.  They  then  recommenced 
their  northern  journey.  That  night  they  camped  without 
finding  water,  but  the  next  morning  were  lucky  enough 
to  get  a  permanent  supply.  Then  ensued  much  delay, 
caused  by  fruitless  attempts  to  strike  either  to  the  east- 
ward or  the  westward.  Stuart  tried  on  several  occasions 
to  reach  the  head  of  the  Victoria  Eiver,  but  failed,  and 
sacrificed  some  horses.  On  a  creek  he  called  the  Phillips, 
some  natives  were  encountered  who,  according  to  Stuart, 
made  and  answered  a  masonic  sign. 

To  the  north  of  this  spot,  the  explorers  came  to  a  large 
gum-tree  creek,  with  very  fair-sized  sheets  of  water  in  it. 


BABBAGE   AND   STUAET  181 

As  they  followed  down,  they  passed  an  encampment  of 
natives,  but  kept  steadily  on  their  course  without 
interfering  with  them.  Not  finding  any  water  lower  down 
the  creek,  the  party  had  to  return,  and  when  close  to  the 
creek  at  the  point  where  they  had  crossed  that  morning, 
they  were  suddenly  surrounded  by  a  mob  of  armed  and 
painted  savages,  who  had  emerged  unexpectedly  from 
concealment  in  a  clump  of  scrub.  To  all  attempts  at 
peaceful  parley  they  returned  showers  of  boomerangs 
and  clubs,  until  the  whites  were  compelled  in  self-defence 
to  fire  on  them.  Even  then  they  were  not  deterred  from 
following  the  party,  even  up  to.  the  camp  of  the  night 
before.  This  incident  caused  Stuart  to  hesitate.  His 
party  was  so  small  that  the  loss  or  even  disablement  of 
one  man  would  have  crippled  the  expedition;  and  they 
had  already  lost  a  good  many  horses.  He  therefore  wisely 
decided  to  fall  back,  as  they  had  penetrated  far  enough 
to  prove  that  the  passage  of  the  continent  could  be 
effected  with  a  few  more  men.  It  was  on  the  27th  of  June 
that  he  began  his  homeward  march,  and  on  the  26th  of 
August  he  reached  Brodie's  camp  at  Hamilton  Springs, 
with  the  strength  of  all  much  reduced,  and  Stuart  himself 
suffering  from  scurvy. 

After  the  result  of  Stuart's  journey  had  been  reported 
in  Adelaide,  and  it  was  seen  how  inadequate  means  only 
had  led  to  his  defeat,  the  Got^ernment  voted  £2,500  to 
equip  a  better-organized  party;  of  this  he  was  to  take 
command. 

Stuart  jildged  it  best  to  keep  his  old  track  by  way  of 
the  Fincke  and  the  Hugh.  On  the  12th  of  April  they 
arrived  at  the  Bonney,  and  finding  it  running  strong,  with 
abundance  of  good  feed  on  the  banks,  they  were  betrayed 
into  following  it  down ;  but  it  soon  spread  abroad  and  was 
lost  in  a  large  plain.  Leaving  the  Bonney,  they  adhered 
to  the  old  route,  and  reached  Tennant's  Creek  on  the  21st 
of  April,  and  four  days  afterwards  they  were  on  the 
scene  of  the  attack  that  had  been  made  on  them  at  Attack 
Creek.  But  although  the  tracks  of  the  natives  were 
numerous,  the  explorers  were,  at  this  time,  permitted  to 


182  EXPLOREKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

pass  on  in  peace.  Keeping  at  the  foot  of  the  low  range, 
which  there  has  an  approximate  northerly  and  southerly 
direction,  Stuart  crossed  many  creeks  which  promised 
long  courses  where  they  formed  in  the  range,  but  which 
were  all  alike  lost  when  they  reached  the  level  country. 
On  the  4th  of  May  they  attained  to  the  northern 
termination  of  this  range,  which  he  called  the  Ashburton 
Eange.  Here  he  made  several  attempts  to  the  north  and 
north-west,  but  could  discover  neither  water  nor  water- 
courses in  those  directions;  nothing  indeed  but  plains, 
beautifully  grassed,  but  heavy  to  ride  over  and  yielding 
under  the  horses '  feet.  Beyond  these  plains,  the  country 
changed  for  the  worse,  and  became  sandy  and  scrubby. 
On  the  16th  of  May  he  encountered  a  new  description  of 
scrub  that  grew  in  a  very  obstructive  manner,  and  is 
now  known  as  Stuart's  "Desert  Hedgewood." 

On  the  23rd  he  found  a  magnificent  sheet  of  permanent 
water  which  he  called  the  Newcastle  Waters,  and  at  first 
he  judged  that  a  clear  way  north  was  now  assured.  But 
he  was  deluded,  for  beyond  these  waters  he  could  not 
advance  his  party  a  mile;  north,  north-east,  and  north- 
west, there  was  the  one  outlook — endless  grassy  plains, 
terminating  in  dense  scrubby  forest  country.  He  had  to 
give  up  all  hope  for  the  present,  and  return  to  Adelaide. 

Such  however  was  the  confidence  of  the  authorities 
in  him,  and  such  his  own  energy,  that  in  less  than  a  month 
after  his  arrival  in  Adelaide  he  was  on  his  way  to 
Chambers  Creek  to  make  preparations  for  a  fresh 
departure.  His  last  two  journeys  had  proved  the 
existence  of  a  long  line  of  good  country,  fairly  well- 
watered;  and  although  beyond  it  he  had  not  been  able 
to  gain  a  footing,  still  there  was  no  knowing  what  a  fresh 
endeavour  would  bring  to  light. 

He  had  brought  his  party  back  in  safety,  with  the  loss 
of  only  a  few  horses,  and  had  actually  reached  in  point 
of  position  as  low  a  latitude  as  the  Victorian  explorers 
had  done,  and  that  with  a  more  difficult  country  to  travel 
through,  without  camels,  and  with  an  inferior  equipment 
in  all  other  respects. 


BABBAGE    AND    STUART  183 

It  is  not  necessary  again  to  follow  Stuart's  horse-tracks 
over  the  northern  way  he  was  now  pursuing  for  the  third 
time.  On  the  14th  of  April,  1862,  we  find  him  encamped 
at  the  northern  end  of  Newcastle  Waters,  once  more 
about  to  force  a  passage  through  the  forest  of  waterless 
scrub  to  the  north.  On  the  second  day  he  was  partly 
successful,  finding  an  isolated  waterhole,  surrounded  by 
conglomerate  rocks.  This  he  called  Frew's  Pond;  and 
it  is  now  a  well-known  camping-place  for  travellers  on 
the  overland  telegraph  line. 

Past  this  spot  he  was  not  able  to  make  any  progress. 
Twice  he  made  strenuous  but  vain  efforts  to  reach  some 
tributary  of  the  Victoria  Eiver.  He  then  spent  many 
days  riding  through  dense  mulga  and  hedgewood  scrub. 
At  length,  after  much  hope  deferred,  finding  a  few 
scanty  waterholes  that  did  not  serve  the  purpose  he  had 
in  view,  he  succeeded  in  striking  the  head  of  a  chain 
of  ponds  running  in  a  northerly  direction.  These  being 
followed  down,  led  him  to  the  head  of  the  creek  now 
called  Daly  Waters  Creek,  and  finally  to  the  large  water- 
hole  on  which  the  present  telegraph  station  bearing  the 
name  of  Daly  Waters,  stands.  The  creek  was  then  lost 
in  a  swamp,  and  Stuart  was  unable  to  find  the  channel 
where  it  reformed,  which  has  since  been  named  the 
Birdum.  Missing  this  water-guide,  Stuart  worked  his 
way  to  the  eastward,  to  a  creek  he  named  the  Strang- 
ways,  which  led  him  down  to  the  Roper  River,  a  river 
which  he  had  never  striven  to  reach,  his  sole  aim  being 
the  Victoria.  He  crossed  the  Roper,  and  followed  up 
a  northern  tributary,  which  he  named  after  his  constant 
friend  John  Chambers. 

Scarcity  of  water  was  now  a  thing  of  the  past,  but 
his  stock  of  spare  horseshoes  had  to  be  most  jealously 
guarded,  for  his  horses  were  beginning  to  fall  lame,  the 
<30untry  he  was  on  was  very  stony,  and  he  was  far 
removed  from  Adelaide.  From  the  Chambers  he  came 
to  the  lower  course  of  a  creek  called  by  Leichhardt 
Flying-Fox  Creek,  re-named  by  Stuart  the  Katherine, 
the  name  it  now  bears.     Thence  he  struck  across  the 


184  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

stony  tableland  and  descended  on  the  head  waters  of  a 
river  which  he  christened  the  Adelaide,  and  on  following 
this  river  down  he  found  himself  in  rich  tropical  scenery, 
which  told  him  that  at  last  he  was  approaching  the  sea- 
shore. 

On  the  24th  of  July  he  turned  a  little  to  the  north-east, 
intending  to  strike  the  sea-beach  and  travel  along  it  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Adelaide.  He  told  only  two  of  the  party 
of  the  eventful  moment  awaiting  them.  As  they  rode  on, 
Thring,  who  was  riding  ahead,  suddenly  called  out,  ' '  The 
Sea,"  which  so  took  the  majority  by  surprise  that  they 
were  some  time  before  they  understood  what  was  meant^ 
and  then  three  hearty  cheers  were  given. 

At  this,  his  first  point  of  contact  with  the  ocean,  Stuart 
dipped  his  feet  and  hands  in  the  sea,  as  at  last  he  gazed 
across  the  water  he  had  so  perseveringly  striven  for  years 
to  reach. 

He  attempted  to  get  to  the  mouth  of  the  Adelaide  River 
along  the  beach,  but  found  it  too  boggy  for  the  horses. 
Wishing  to  husband  the  forces  at  his  command,  Stuart 
wisely  resolved  to  push  no  further ;  he  had  a  space  cleared 
where  they  were,  and  a  tall  sapling  stripped  of  its  boughs 
to  serve  as  a  flagstaff.  On  this  he  hoisted  the  Union  Jack 
which  he  had  carried  with  him.  A  record  of  their  arrival, 
contained  in  an  air-tight  case,  was  then  buried  at  the 
foot  of  the  impromptu  staff,  and  Stuart  cut  his  initials 
on  the  largest  tree  he  could  find.  The  tree  has  since  been 
found  and  recognised,  but  the  buried  memorial  has  not 
been  discovered.  More  fortunate  than  the  ill-fated 
Burke,  Stuart  surveyed  the  open  sea  from  his  point  of 
contact  with  the  ocean,  instead  of  having  to  be  content 
with  some  mangrove  trees  and  salt  water, 

McDouall  Stuart,  whose  last  expedition  we  have  thus 
followed  out  to  its  successful  end,  is  rightly  considered 
the  man  to  whom  the  credit  for  first  crossing  the 
continent  is  due.  His  victory  was  all  his  own;  he  had 
followed  in  no  other  person's  footsteps;  he  had 
crossed  the  true  centre,  and  he  had  made  the  coast  at 
a  point  much  further  to  the  north  than  that  reached  by 


BABBAGE    AND    STUART  185 

Bnrke  and  Wills,  their  journey  having  been  considerably 
shortened  by  its  northern  end  being  placed  on  the 
southern  shore  of  the  great  gulf  that  bites  so  deeply  into 
north  Australia.  Along  Stuart's  track  there  is  now 
erected  the  Overland  Telegraph  Line,  an  enduring 
monument  to  his  indomitable  perseverance. 

Stuart's  health  was  fast  failing,  and  his  horses  were 
sadly  reduced  in  strength.  He  therefore  started  back 
the  day  after  the  consummation  of  his  dearest  ambition. 
On  his  way  south,  after  leaving  Newcastle  Waters,  he 
found  the  water  in  many  of  the  short  creeks  heading  from 
the  Ashburton  Eange  to  be  rapidly  diminishing;  in  some 
there  was  none  left,  in  others  it  was  fast  drying.  The 
horses  commenced  to  give  in  rapidly  one  after  the  other, 
and  more  were  lost  on  successive  dry  stages.  Stuart 
himself  thought  that  he  would  never  live  to  see  the  settled 
districts.  Scurvy  had  brought  him  down  to  a  lamentable 
state,  and  after  all  his  hard-won  success,  it  seemed  as 
though  he  would  not  profit  by  it.  His  right  hand  had 
become  useless  to  him,  and  his  eyes  lost  power  of  sight 
after  sunset.  He  could  not  undergo  the  pain  of  riding, 
and  a  stretcher  had  to  be  slung  between  two  horses  to 
carry  him  on.  With  painful  slowness  they  crept  along 
until  they  reached  Mount  Margaret,  the  first  station. 
Here  the  leader,  reduced  to  a  mere  skeleton,  was 
furnished  with  a  little  relief ;  ~  and  after  resting  and 
gaining  a  little  strength,  he  rode  on  to  Adelaide. 

This  was  Stuart's  last  expedition;  for  he  never 
recovered  his  health  nor  former  eyesight.  He  was 
rewarded  by  the  Government  of  the  colony  which  he  had 
served  so  well,  and  was  awarded  the  gold  medal  of  the 
Eoyal  Geographical  Society.  He  went  to  reside  in 
England,  where  he  died  in  the  year  1869,  on  the  16th  of 
July. 


Chapter  XIV. 
BURKE  AND  WILLS. 


We  have  now  to  deal  with  an  exploring  expedition  of 
greater  notoriety  than  that  of  any  similar  enterprise  in 
the  annals  of  Australia,  though  its  results  in  the  way  of 
actual  exploration  in  the  true  meaning  of  the  term  were 
quite  insignificant.  The  expedition  could  not  reasonably 
hope  to  reveal  any  new  geographical  conditions;  for  the 

nature  of  the  country  to  be 
traversed  was  fairly  well- 
known:  there  was  no  such 
expanse  of  unknown  terri- 
tory along  the  suggested 
course  of  travel  as  to  justify 
the  anticipation  of  any  dis- 
covery of  magnitude.  Both 
Kennedy  and  Gregory  had 
followed  much  the  same  line 
of  route  when  tracing  the 
course  of  the  Barcoo  and 
Cooper's  Creek,  a  short  dis- 
tance to  the  eastward.  The 
only  apparent  motive  for  the 
expedition  seems  to  have 
been  not  particularly  creditable,  the  desire  to  outdo 
Stuart,  who  after  nearly  accomplishing  the  task  might 
well  have  been  allowed  the  honour  of  completing  it.  But 
Time  is  after  all  the  great  arbitrator:  Stuart  re-entered 
Adelaide  successful,  on  the  same  day  that  the  bodies  of 
Burke  and  Wills  arrived  for  shipment  to  Melbourne. 

Robert  O'Hara  Burke  was  born  in  the  county  of 
Gal  way,  in  Ireland,  in  1821.  He  was  the  second  son  of 
John  Hardiman  Burke,  of  St.  Clerans,  and  was  educated 
in  Belgium.  In  1840  he  entered  the  Austrian  army,  in 
which  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  Captain.    In  1848  he  joined 

186 


Eobert  O'Hara  Burke. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  possession 

of  E.  J.  Welch,  of  the  Howitt  Relief 

Expedition. 


BURKE    AND    WILLS 


187 


the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  but  five  years  later 
emigrated  to  Tasmania.  Thence  he  went  to  Victoria, 
where  he  entered  the  local  police  force,  and  became  an 
Inspector.  Such  was  his  position  when  he  was  offered 
the  command  of  the  expedition  which  ended  in  his  death. 

William  John  Wills  was 
born  at  Totnes,  in  Devon- 
shire. He  was  the  son  of  a 
medical  man,  and  after  his 
arrival  in  Victoria,  in  1852, 
he  led  for  a  time  a  bush  life 
on  the  Edwards  River.  He 
was  later  employed  as  a  sur- 
veyor in  Melbourne,  and  then 
became  assistant  to  Pro- 
fessor Neumayer  at  the 
Melbourne  Observatory,  a 
post  he  quitted  in  order  to 
act  as  assistant-surveyor  on 
the  ill-starred  journey. 

Sentiment,  and  an  hys- 
terical sentiment  at  that, 
seems  to  have  dominated 
this  expedition  throughout, 
necessity  for  Victoria  to  equip  and  send  forth  an 
exploring  expedition.  Her  rich  and  compact  little 
province  was  known  from  end  to  end,  and  she  had 
no  surplus  territory  in  which  to  open  up  fresh  fields  of 
pastoral  occupation  for  her  sons.  But  her  people  became 
possessed  with  the  exploring  spirit,  and  the  planning  and 
execution  of  the  scheme  was  a  signal  indication  of 
national  patriotism.  And  if  sense  and  not  sentiment  had 
marked  the  counsel,  the  results  might  have  conferred 
rich  benefit  upon  Australia. 

The  necessary  funds  were  made  up  as  follows: — 
£6,000  voted  by  Grovernment;  £1,000  presented  by  Mr. 
Ambrose  Kyte;  and  the  balance  of  the  first  expenditure 
of  £12,000  made  up  by  public  subscription.  But  the  final 
cost  of  the  expedition  and  of  the  relief  parties  amounted 


William  John  Wills. 

From  a  photo  in  possession  of  E.  J. 

Welch,  of  the  Howitt  Relief 

Expedition. 


There    was    no    urgent 


188  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

to  £57,000.  And  the  exploratory  work  done  by  the 
different  relief  parties  far  and  away  exceeded  in 
geographical  results  the  small  amount  effected  by  the 
original  expedition. 

A  committee  of  management  was  appointed,  and  to  his 
interest  with  this  committee  Burke  owed  his  elevation 
to  the  position  of  leader.  He  seems  to  have  been 
supported  bj^  that  sort  of  general  testimony  which  fits 
a  man  to  apply  for  nearly  any  position;  but  of  special 
aptitude  and  training  for  the  work  to  be  done  he  had 
none.  He  was  frank,  openhearted,  impetuous,  and 
endowed  with  all  those  qualities  which  made  him  a  great 
favourite  with  women;  moreover,  his  service  in  the 
Austrian  army  had  given  people  an  exaggerated  notion 
of  his  ability  to  command  and  organize.  It  would  appear 
on  the  whole  that  his  appointment  was  due  solely  to  the 
influence  he  wielded,  and  to  his  personal  popularity. 

Wills  appears  to  have  been  a  man  gifted  with  many  of 
the  qualities  essential  for  efficient  discharge  of  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  appertaining  to  the  post  he  held; 
but  his  amiable  disposition  allowed  him  to  be  influenced 
too  readily  in  council  by  the  rash  and  foolish  judgment 
of  his  impetuous  superior.  If,  for  instance,  he  had 
persisted  in  combating  Burke's  incomprehensible  plan  of 
leaving  the  depot  for  Mount  Hopeless,  the  last  fatality 
would  never  have  occurred. 

When  the  expedition  left  Melbourne,  it  was  amid  the 
shouts  and  hurrahs  of  acclaiming  thousands,  who 
probably  had  not  the  faintest  idea  of  the  easy  task  that 
the  explorers  with  their  imposing  retinue  and  outfit  had 
before  them.  In  fact,  with  all  the  resources  at  Burke's 
command,  a  favourable  season  and  good  open  country^ 
the  excursion  would  have  been  a  mere  picnic  to  most  men 
of  experience.  A  number  of  camels  had  been  specially 
imported  from  India  at  a  cost  of  £5,500.  G.  J.  Landells 
came  to  the  country  in  charge  of  them,  and  had  been 
appointed  second  in  command.  Long  before  they  left  the 
settled  districts,  Burke  quarrelled  with  him,  whereupon 
he  resigned  and  returned  to  Melbourne.    There  he  openly 


BUEKE    AND    WILLS  189 

declared  that  under  Burke's  control  the  expedition  would 
assuredly  meet  with  disaster.  Wills  was  then  appointed 
second  by  Burke,  and  Wright,  who  was  supposed  to  be 
acquainted  with  the  locality  which  they  were  approaching, 
was  engaged  as  third,  another  most  unfortunate  selection. 
Besides  those  already  mentioned,  there  were  Dr. 
Hermann  Beckler,  medical  officer  and  botanist,  and  Dr. 
Ludwig  Beckler,  artist,  naturalist,  and  geologist,  ten 
white  assistants,  and  three  camel-drivers. 

The  expedition  in  full  reached  Menindie  on  the  Darling, 
where  Wright  joined  them.  On  the  19th  of  October,  1860, 
Burke,  Wills,  six  men,  five  horses  and  sixteen  camels,  left 
Menindie  for  Cooper's  Creek.  Wright  went  with  them 
two  hundred  miles  to  indicate  the  best  route,  and  then 
returned  to  take  charge  of  the  main  body  waiting  at 
Menindie.  On  the  11th  of  November,  Burke  with  the 
advance  party  reached  Cooper's  Creek,  where  they 
camped  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  Wright  with  the  rest. 
Grass  and  water  were  both  plentiful,  and  the  journey  had 
hitherto  proved  no  more  arduous  than  an  ordinary  over- 
landing  trip. 

The  long  delay  and  inaction  worked  sadly  upon  Burke's 
active  and  impatient  temperament,  and  he  suddenly 
announced  his  intention  to  subdivide  his  party  and,  with 
three  men,  to  start  across  the  belt  of  unknown  country — 
a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles  at  the  furthest — that 
separated  him  from  Gregory's  track  round  the  Gulf. 
Although  his  lavish  outfit  had  been  purchased  specially 
to  explore  this  comparatively  small  extent  of 
land,  he  thus  deliberately  left  it  behind  him 
during  the  most  critical  part  of  the  journey.  He  had 
with  him  no  means  of  following  up  any  discoveries  he 
might  make,  and  his  botanist  and  naturalist  and  geologist 
were  also  left  behind.  He  killed  time  for  a  little  while 
by  making  short  excursions  northward,  and  then, 
on  the  16th  of  December,  impatient  of  further  delay,  he 
started  with  Wills  and  two  men  for  Carpentaria.  The 
others  were  left,  with  verbal  instructions,  to  wait  three 
months  for  him.    Thus,  dispersed  and  neglected,  he  left 


190  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

the  costly  equipment  containing  within  itself  all  the 
elements  of  successful  geographical  research.  Certainly 
this  was  not  the  plan  that  had  been  anticipated  by  the 
promoters  and  organisers.  We  have  now,  at  this  stage, 
the  spectacle  of  the  main  body  loitering  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  settled  districts,  four  men  killing  time  on  the  banks 
of  Cooper's  Creek,  and  the  leader  and  three  others 
scampering  across  the  continent,  all  four  of  them  utterly 
inexperienced  in  bushcraft. 

As  might  have  been  expected  the  results  of  the  journey 
are  most  barren :  Wills 's  diary  is  sadly  uninteresting,  and 
Burke  made  only  a  few  scanty  notes,  at  the  end  of  which 
he  writes: — "28th  March.  At  the  conclusion  of  report 
it  would  be  as  well  to  say  that  we  reached  the  sea,  but  we 
could  not  obtain  a  view  of  the  open  ocean,  although  we 
made  every  endeavour  to  do  so." 

Shortly  condensing  Wills 's  diary,  we  gather  the 
following  account  of  their  route.  The  first  point  they 
intended  to  reach  was  Eyre's  Creek,  but  before  arriving 
at  it,  they  discovered  a  fine  watercourse  coming  from 
the  north,  which  took  them  a  long  distance  in 
the  direction  they  desired  to  follow.  This  watercourse, 
which  McKinlay  afterwards  called  the  Mueller,  began  in 
time  to  lead  their  steps  too  much  to  the  eastward,  in  which 
direction  lay  its  source.  They  therefore  quitted  it  and 
kept  due  north,  following  a  tributary  well-supplied  with 
both  grass  and  water.  This  tributary  led  them  well  on 
to  the  northern  dividing  range,  which  they  crossed 
without  difficulty,  coming  down  on  to  the  head  of  the 
Cloncurry  Eiver.  By  tracing  that  river  down  they 
reached  the  Flinders  River,  which  they  followed  down  to 
the  mangroves  and  salt  water.  They  were,  however, 
considerably  out  in  their  longitude,  for  they  thought 
that  they  were  on  the  Albert,  over  one  hundred  miles  to 
the  westward. 

Having  sighted  salt  water,  if  not  the  open  sea,  they 
commenced  the  retreat.  Gray  and  King  were  the  two 
men  who  were  with  Burke  and  Wills ;  and  for  equipment 
they  had  started  with  six  camels,  one  horse-,  and  three 


BURKE    AND    WILLS 


191 


192  EXPLOEEES  OF  AUSTEALIA 

months '  provisions.  Short  rations  and  fatiguing  marches 
now  began  to  tell,  and  during  the  struggle  back  to  the 
Depot,  there  seems  to  have  been  an  absence  of  that  kindly 
spirit  of  comradeship  that  has  so  often  distinguished 
other  exploring  expeditions  fallen  on  evil  days. 

Gray  became  ill,  and  took  some  extra  flour  to  make  a 
little  gruel  with.  For  this  infringement  of  rules,  Burke 
personally  chastised  him.  A  few  days  afterwards.  Wills 
wrote  in  his  diary  that  they  had  to  halt  and  send  back 
for  Gray,  who  was  ''gammoning"  that  he  could  not  walk. 
Nine  days  afterwards  the  unfortunate  man  died,  an  act 
which  is  not  often  successfully  ''gammoned." 

But  to  bring  the  miserable  story  to  an  end,  at  last  on 
the  evening  of  the  21st  of  April,  1861,  two  months  after 
they  had  reached  the  Gulf,  they  re-entered  the  depot 
camp  at  Cooper's  Creek,  where  four  men  had  been 
instructed  to  await  their  return,  only  to  find  it  deserted 
and  lifeless.  Keenly  disappointed,  for  though  they  knew 
they  were  behind  the  appointed  time,  they  had  still  hoped 
that  some  one  would  have  waited  for  them,  they  searched 
the  locality  for  some  sign  or  message  from  their  friends, 
and  on  a  tree  saw  the  word  "DIG"  carved.  Beneath 
this  message  of  hope  they  were  soon  busy  digging,  and 
before  long  they  unearthed  a  welcome  store  of  provisions 
and  a  letter,  which  ran: — 

"Depot,  Cooper's  Creek,  April  21,  1861. — The  depot 
party  of  V.E.E,*  leaves  this  camp  to-day  to  return  to 
the  Darling.  I  intend  to  go  S.E.  from  Camp  60  to  get 
on  our  old  track  at  Bulloo.  Two  of  my  companions  and 
myself  are  quite  well;  the  third — Patton — has  been 
unable  to  walk  for  the  last  eighteen  days,  as  his  leg  has 
been  severely  hurt  when  thrown  by  one  of  the  horses.  No 
person  has  been  up  here  from  the  Darling.  We  have  six 
camels  and  twelve  horses  in  good  working  condition. 

William  Beahe." 

Unfortunately,  this  was  so  worded  that  when  Burke 
found  it  the  same  night,  it  gave  him  the  impression  that 
the  depot  party  were  all,  with  one  exception,  fairly  well; 

*  Victorian  Exploration  Expedition. 


BUEKE    AND    WILLS  195 

and  that,  with  fresh  animals  just  off  a  long  rest  they 
would  travel  long  stages  on  their  homeward  march.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  on  the  evening  of  the  day  that  Burke 
returned,  they  were  camped  but  fourteen  miles  away. 
But  this  was  only  the  first  of  a  series  of  singular  and  fatal 
oversights — that  almost  seemed  pre-ordained  by  mocking 
Fate. 

Burke  consulted  his  companions  as  to  the  feasibility 
of  their  overtaking  Brahe,  and  they  both  agreed  that,  in 
their  tired  and  enfeebled  condition,  it  was  hopeless  to 
attempt  it.  Burke  proposed  that  instead  of  returning  up 
the  creek  along  the  old  route  to  Menindie,  they  should 
follow  the  creek  down  to  Mount  Hopeless  in  South 
Australia,  following  the  route  taken  by  A.  C.  Gregory.* 
Wills  objected  to  this,  and  so  did  King,  but  ultimately 
both  gave  in,  thereby  signing  their  death  warrant;  for 
if  they  had  remained  quietly  at  the  depot,  they  would 
have  been  rescued. 

After  resting  for  five  days,  and  finding  their  strength 
much  restored  by  the  food,  they  started  for  Mount  Hope- 
less, ill-omened  name.  Before  they  left,  Burke  placed  in 
the  cache  a  paper,  stating  that  they  had  returned,  and 
then  carefully  restored  the  ground  to  its  former  condition. 
The  common  and  natural  thought  to  mark  a  tree  or  to 
make  some  other  unmistakable  sign  of  their  return,  does 
not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  either  of  the  leaders.  It 
will  be  seen  further  on  how  this  scarcely  credible 
omission  was  a  main  factor  in  deciding  their  fate. 

As  they  progressed  slowly  down  the  creek,  one  of  the 
two  camels  became  bogged,  and  had  to  be  shot  where  it 
lay.  The  wanderers  cut  off  what  meat  there  was  on  the 
body,  and  stayed  two  or  three  days  to  dry  it  in  the  sun. 
The  one  camel  had  now  to  carry  what  they  had,  except 
the  bundles  that  the  men  bore,  each  some  twenty-five 
pounds  in  weight.  They  made  but  little  progress;  the 
creek  split  up  into  many  channels  that  ran  out  into  earthy 
plains ;  and  at  last,  when  their  one  beast  of  burden  gave 
in,  they  had  to  acknowledge  defeat,  and  commenced  to 
return.    After  shooting  the  wretched  camel  and  drying 

*  See  page  253.  O 


194  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

his  flesh,  the  men  tried  to  live  like  the  blacks,  on  fish  and 
*'nardoo,"  the  seeds  of  a  small  plant  of  which  the  natives 
make  flour.  But  the  struggle  for  existence  was  very  hard ; 
they  were  not  expert  hunters,  and  the  natives,  who  were 
at  first  friendly  and  shared  their  food  with  them,  soon 
out-grew  the  novelty  of  their  presence,  began  to  find  them 
an  encumbrance,  and  constantly  shifted  camp  to  avoid 
the  burden  of  their  support. 

On  the  27th  of  May,  Wills  went  forward  alone  to  visit 
the  depot  and  deposit  there  the  journals  and  a  note 
stating  their  condition.  He  reached  there  on  the  30th  and 
wrote  in  his  diary  that  ''No  traces  of  anyone,  except 
blacks  have  been  here  since  we  left. ' ' 

But  while  they  were  absent  down  the  creek,  Brahe  and 
Wright  had  visited  the  place,  and  finding  no  sign  of  their 
return,  and  the  cache  apparently  untouched,  had  ridden 
away  concluding  that  they  had  not  yet  come  back.  This 
was  the  note  that  Wills  left: — 

''May  30th,  1861.  We  have  been  unable  to  leave  the 
creek.  Both  camels  are  dead.  Burke  and  King  are  down 
on  the  lower  part  of  the  creek.  I  am  about  to  return  to 
them,  when  we  shall  probably  all  come  up  here.  We  are 
trying  to  live  the  best  way  we  can,  like  the  blacks,  but  we 
find  it  hard  work.  Our  clothes  are  going  fast  to  pieces; 
send  provisions  and  clothes  as  soon  as  possible. 

"The  depot  party  having  left  contrary  to  instructions 
has  put  us  into  this  fix.  I  have  deposited  some  of  my 
journals  here  for  fear  of  accidents." 

William  J.  Wills. 

Having  done  this,  and  once  more  carefully  concealed 
all  traces  of  the  cache  having  been  disturbed,  Wills 
rejoined  his  companions  in  misfortune.  Some  friendly 
natives  fed  him  on  his  way  back  to  them. 

During  the  intercourse  that  of  necessity  they  had  with 
the  natives  along  Cooper's  Creek,  they  had  noticed  the 
extensive  use  made  by  them  of  the  seeds  of  the  nardoo 
plant;  but  for  a  long  time  they  had  been  unable  to  find 
this  plant,  nor  would  the  blacks  show  it  to  them.  At 
last  King  accidentally  found  it,   and  by  its   aid   thej'^ 


BURKE    AND    WILLS 


195 


managed  to  prolong  their  lives.  But  the  seeds  had  to 
be  gathered,  cleaned,  ponnded  and  cooked;  and  in 
comparison  with  all  this  labour  the  nourishment  afforded 
by  the  cakes  was  very  slight.  An  occasional  crow  or 
hawk  was  shot,  and  a  little  fish  now  and  then  begged  from 
the  natives.  As  they  were  sinking  rapidly,  it  was  at  last 
decided  that  Burke  and  King  should  go  up  the  creek  and 
endeavour  to  find  the  main  camp  of  the  natives  and  obtain 
food  from  them.  Wills,  who  was  now  so  weak  as  to  be 
unable  to  move,  was  left  lying  under  some  boughs,  with  an 
eight  days '  supply  of  nardoo 
and  water,  the  others  trust- 
ing that  within  that  period 
they  would  have  returned  to 
him. 

On  the  26th  of  June  the 
two  men  started,  and  poor 
Wills  was  left  to  meet  death 
alone.  By  the  entries  in  his 
diary,  which  he  kept  written 
up  as  long  as  his  strength 
remained,  he  evidently  re- 
tained consciousness  almost 
to  the  last.  So  exhausted 
was  he  that  death  must  have 
come  to  him  as  a  merciful 
release  from  the  pain  of 
living.  His  last  entries,  although  giving  evidence  of 
fading  faculties,  are  almost  cheerful.  He  jocularly 
alludes  to  himself  as  Micawber,  waiting  for  something  to 
turn  up.  But  it  is  evident  that  he  had  given  up  hope,  and 
was  waiting  for  death's  approach,  calm  and  resigned, 
without  fear,  like  a  good  and  gallant  man. 

Burke  and  King  did  not  advance  far.  On  the  second 
day  Burke  had  to  give  in  from  sheer  weakness ;  the  next 
morning  when  his  companion  looked  at  him  he  saw  by 
the  breaking  light  that  his  leader  was  dead. 

The  last  entries  in  Burke's  pocket-book  run  thus: — 

''I  hope  we  shall  be  done  justice  to.  We  have  fulfilled 
our  task  but  have  been  aban .    We  have  not  been 


John  King. 

From  a  photo  in  the  possession  of 

E.  J.  Welch. 


196 


EXPLORERS   OF   AUSTRALIA 


followed  up  as  we  expected,  and  the  depot  party  aban- 
doned their  post.  .  .  King  has  behaved  nobly.  He  has 
stayed  with  me  to  the  last,  and  placed  the  pistol  in  my 
hand,  leaving  me  lying  on  the  surface  as  I  wished." 

Left  to  himself.  King  wandered  about  in  search  of  the 
natives,  and,  not  finding  them,  the  lonely  man  returned  to 
the  spot  where  they  had  left  Wills,  and  found  that  his 

troubles  too  were  over.  He 
covered  up  the  corpse  with  a 
little  sand,  and  then  left  once 
more  in  search  of  the 
natives.  This  time  he  found 
them,  and,  moved  by  his  soli- 
tary condition,  they  helped 
him  to  live  until  rescued  by 
Howitt's  party  on  Septem- 
ber 15th. 

Meanwhile  the  absence  of 
any  news  from  Wright,  in 
charge  of  the  main  body,  was 
beginning  to  create  a  feeling 
of  uneasiness  in  Melbourne. 
A  light  party  had  already 
been  equipped  under  A.  W. 
Howitt  to  follow  up  Burke's  tracks,  when  sud- 
denly despatches  from  the  Darling  arrived  from 
Wright,  telling  of  the  non-arrival  of  the  four 
men.  Howitt's  party  was  doubled,  and  he  was 
immediately  sent  off  to  Cooper's  Creek  to  commence  a 
search  for  the  missing  men.  He  had  not  far  to  go.  On 
the  13th  of  September  he  arrived  at  the  fateful  depot 
camp  on  Cooper's  Creek,  with  Brahe.  He  immediately 
commenced  to  follow,  or  try  to  follow,  Burke's  outward 
track,  but  on  Sunday  the  15th,  while  still  on  Cooper's 
Creek,  King  was  found  by  E.  J.  Welch,  the  second  in 
command  of  the  relief  party.  Welch's  account  of  the 
finding  of  King  is  as  follows : — 

''After  travelling  about  three  miles,  my  attention  was 
attracted  by  a  number  of  niggers  on  the  opposite  bank 


Edwin  J.  Welch  second  in  command  of 

the  Howitt  Belief  Expedition,  and  the 

first  man  to  find  King. 


BURKE    AND    WILLS  197 

of  the  creek,  who  shouted  loudly  as  soon  as  they  saw  me, 
and  vigorously  waved  and  pointed  down  the  creek.  A 
feeling  of  something  about  to  happen  excited  me  some- 
what, but  I  little  expected  what  the  sequel  was  to  be. 
Moving  cautiously  on  through  the  undergrowth  which 
lined  the  banks  of  the  creek,  the  blacks  kept  pace  on  the 
opposite  side,  their  cries  increasing  in  volume  and 
intensity ;  when  suddenly  rounding  a  bend  I  was  startled 
to  see  a  large  body  of  them  gathered  on  a  sandy  neck 
in  the  bed  of  the  creek,  between  two  large  waterholes. 
Immediately  they  saw  me,  they  too  commenced  to  howl 
and  wave  their  weapons  in  the  air.  I  at  once  pulled  up, 
and  considered  the  propriety  of  waiting  the  arrival  of 
the  party,  for  I  felt  far  from  satisfied  with  regard  to  their 
intentions.  But  here,  for  the  first  time,  my  favourite 
horse — a  black  cob  known  in  the  camp  as  Piggy,  a  Murray 
Downs  bred  stock-horse  of  good  repute  both  for  foot  and 
temper — appeared  to  think  that  his  work  was  cut  out  for 
him,  and  the  time  had  arrived  in  which  to  do  it.  Pawing 
and  snorting  at  the  noise,  he  suddenly  slewed  round  and 
headed  down  the  steep  bank,  through  the  undergrowth, 
straight  for  the  crowd  as  he  had  been  wont  to  do  after 
many  a  mob  of  weaners  on  his  native  plains.  The  blacks 
drew  hurriedly  back  to  the  top  of  the  opposite  bank, 
shouting  and  gesticulating  violently,  and  leaving  one 
solitary  figure  apparently  covered  with  some  scarecrow 
rags  and  part  of  a  hat  prominently  alone  in  the  sand. 
Before  I  could  pull  up  I  had  passed  it,  and  as  I  passed  it 
tottered,  threw  up  its  hands  in  the  attitude  of  prayer 
and  fell  on  the  sand.  The  heavy  sand  helped  me  to 
conquer  Piggy  on  the  level,  and  when  I  turned  back,  the 
figure  had  partially  risen. 

''Hastily  dismounting,  I  was  soon  beside  it,  excitedly 
asking: — 'Who  in  the  name  of  wonder  are  you?'  He 
answered,  'I  am  King,  sir.'  For  the  moment  I  did  not 
grasp  the  thought  that  the  object  of  our  search  was 
attained,  for  King  being  only  one  of  the  undistinguished 
members  of  the  party,  his  name  was  unfamiliar  to  me. 


198  EXPLOKERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

*'  'King/  I  repeated.  'Yes,'  he  said; 'the  last  man  of 
the  exploring  expedition.'  'What!  Burke's?'  'Yes,'  he 
said.  'Where  is  he — and  Wills!'  'Dead,  both  dead,  long 
ago, '  and  again  he  fell  to  the  ground. 

' '  Then  I  knew  who  stood  before  me.  Jumping  into  the 
saddle  and  riding  up  the  bank,  I  fired  two  or  three 
revolver  shots  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  party,  and 
on  their  coming  up,  sent  the  other  black  boy  to  cut 
Howitt's  track  and  bring  him  back  to  camp.  We  then 
put  up  a  tent  to  shelter  the  rescued  man,  and  by  degrees 
we  got  from  him  the  sad  story  of  the  death  of  his  leader. 
We  got  it  at  intervals  only,  between  the  long  rests  which 
his  exhausted  condition  compelled  him  to  take. ' ' 

As  soon  as  King  had  recovered  enough  strength  to 
accompany  the  party,  they  went  to  the  place  where  Wills 
had  breathed  his  last ;  and  found  his  body  in  the  gunyah 
as  King  had  described  it.  There  it  was  buried.  On  the 
21st  Burke's  body  was  found  up  the  creek;  he  too  was  at 
first  buried  where  he  died.  Howitt,  after  rewarding  the 
blacks  who  had  cared  for  King,  started  back  for 
Melbourne  by  easy  stages.  On  his  arrival  there  he  was 
sent  back  to  disinter  the  remains  of  the  dead ;  a  task  which 
he  and  Welch  safely  accomplished,  bringing  the  bodies 
down  by  way  of  Adelaide. 

Dr.  Beckler,  Stone,  Purcell,  and  Patton  were  the  others 
whose  lives  were  sacrificed  on  this  expedition,  so  marked 
with  disaster.  These  victims  received  no  token  of  public 
recognition  of  their  fate,  although  a  public  funeral  was 
accorded  to  Burke  and  Wills,  and  a  statue  has  been 
erected  to  their  memory  in  Melbourne. 

The  foolish  and  unaccountable  oversight  of  Burke  and 
his  companions  in  not  marking  a  tree,  or  otherwise 
leaving  some  recognisable  sign  of  their  return  at  the 
depot,  seems  to  have  led  Brahe  astray  completely.  He 
states  his  side  of  the  case  as  follows : — 

"Mr.  Burke's  return  being  so  soon  after  my  departure 
caused  the  tracks  of  his  camels  to  correspond  in  the 
character  of  age  exactly  with  our  own  tracks.  The 
remains  of  three  separate  fires  led  us  to  suppose  that 


BUKKE    AND    WILLS 


199 


The  Burke  and  Wills  Statue,  Melbourne. 


200  EXPLOKERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

blacks  had  been  camped  there.  .  .  The  ground  above 
the  cache  was  so  perfectly  restored  to  the  appearance  it 
presented  when  I  left  it,  that  in  the  absence  of  any  fresh 
sign  or  mark  of  any  description  to  be  seen  near,  it  was 
impossible  to  suppose  that  it  had  been  disturbed. ' ' 

The  story  of  the  lost  explorers  created  intense  excite- 
ment throughout  the  other  colonies.  Queensland,  as  the 
colony  wherein  the  explorers  were  supposed  to  have  met 
with  disaster,  sent  out  two  search  parties.  The 
** Victoria,"  a  steam  sloop,  was  sent  up  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Albert  Eiver  in  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  having  on 
board  William  Landsborough,  with  George  Bourne  as 
second  in  command,  and  a  small  and  efficient  party; 
another  Queensland  expedition,  under  Fred  Walker,  left 
the  furthest  station  in  the  Rockhampton  district;  and 
from  South  Australia  John  McKinlay  started  to  traverse 
the  continent  on  much  the  same  line  of  route  as  that 
taken  by  the  unhappy  men. 


Chapter  XV. 

THE    RELIEF    EXPEDITIONS    AND    ATTEMPTS 
TOWARDS   PERTH. 


(i.) — John  McKinlay. 

John  McKinlay  was  born  at  Sandbank,  on  the  Clyde, 
in  1819.  He  first  came  to  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales 
in  1836,  and  joined  his  uncle,  a  prosperous  grazier,  under 
whose  guidance  he  soon  became  a  good  bushman  with  an 
ardent  love  of  bush  life.  He  took  up  several  runs  near 
the  South  Australian  border,  and  thenceforth  became 
associated  with  that  province. 

In  1861  he  was  appointed  leader  of  the  South 
Australian  relief  party,  and  started  from  Adelaide  on 
October  26th.  On  arriving  at  Blanche  Water,  he  heard 
a  vague  rumour  from  the  blacks  that  white  men  and 
camels  had  been  seen  at  a  distant  inland  water;  but  put 
little  faith  in  the  story.  He  traversed  Lake  Torrens,  and, 
striking  north,  crossed  the  lower  end  of  Cooper's  Creek 
at  a  point  where  the  main  watercourse  is  lost  in  a  maze 
of  channels.  Here  he  learned  definite  and  particular 
details  respecting  the  rumoured  white  men,  and  thinking 
there  might  be  some  groundwork  of  truth  in  the  report, 
he  now  pressed  forward  to  the  locality  indicated.  Having 
formed  a  depot  camp,  he  went  ahead  with  two  white  men 
and  a  native.  Passing  through  a  belt  of  country  with 
numerous  small  shallow  lakelets,  they  came  to  a  water- 
course whereon  they  found  signs  of  a  grave,  and  they 
picked  up  a  battered  pint-pot.  Next  morning,  feeling  sure 
that  the  ground  had  been  disturbed  with  a  spade,  they 
opened  what  proved  to  be  a  grave,  and  in  it  found  the 
body  of  a  European,  the  skull  marked,  so  McKinlay 
states,  with  two  sabre  cuts.  He  noted  down  the 
description  of  the  body,  the  locality,  and  its  surroundings ; 
and  in  view  of  these  particulars,  it  has  been  stated  that 
the  body  was  that  of  Gray,  who  died  in  the  neighbourhood.* 

See  page  193.  201 


202  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Considering  the  minute  and  circumstantial  accounts 
that  have  from  time  to  time  been  related  by  the  blacks 
concerning  Leichhardt,  one  is  not  astonished  at  the 
legends  told  to  McKinlay.  The  native  with  him  told  him 
that  the  whites  had  been  attacked  in  their  camp,  and 
that  the  whole  of  them  had  been  murdered;  the  blacks 
having  finished  by  eating  the  bodies  of  the  other  men, 
and  burying  the  journals,  saddles,  and  similar  portions 
of  the  equipment  beside  a  lake  a  short  distance  away. 
A  further  search  revealed  another  grave — empty — and 
there  were  other  and  slighter  indications  that  white  men 
had  visited  the  neighbourhood,  so  that  McKinlay  was  led 
to  place  some  credence  in  this  story. 

Next  morning  a  tribe  of  blacks  appeared ;  and  although 
they  immediately  ran  away  on  perceiving  the  party,  one 
was  captured  who  corroborated  the  statement  made  by 
the  other  native.  Both  of  them  bore  marks  on  them  like 
bullet  and  shot  wounds.  The  second  native  said  that 
there  was  a  pistol  concealed  near  a  neighbouring  lake. 
He  was  sent  to  fetch  it;  but  returned  the  next  morning 
at  the  head  of  a  host  of  aboriginals,  armed,  painted,  and 
evidently  bent  on  mischief.  The  leader  was  obliged  to 
order  his  men  to  fire  upon  them,  and  it  was  only  after 
two  or  three  volleys  that  they  retired. 

McKinlay  was  now  satisfied  that  he  had  discovered 
all  there  was  to  find  of  the  Victorian  expedition,  and, 
after  burying  a  letter  for  the  benefit  of  any  after-comers, 
he  left  Lake  Massacre,  as  it  was  mistakenly  named,  and 
returned  to  the  depot  camp.    His  letter  was  as  follows : — 

''S.A.B.R.  Expedition, 

October  23rd,  1861. 

To  the  leader  of  any  expedition  seeking  tidings  of 
Burke  and  party: — Sir,  I  reached  this  water  on  the  19th 
instant,  and  by  means  of  a  native  guide  discovered  a 
European  camp,  one  mile  north  on  west  side  of  flat.  At 
or  near  this  camp,  traces  of  horses,  camels,  and  whites 
were  found.  Hair,  apparently  belonging  to  Mr.  Wills, 
Charles  Gray,  Mr.  Burke,  or  King,  was  picked  up  from 
the  surface  of  a  grave  dug  by  a  spade,  and  from  the 


THE    BELIEF    EXPEDITIONS  203 

skull  of  a  European  buried  by  the  natives.  Other  less 
important  traces — such  as  a  pannikin,  oil-can,  saddle- 
stuffing,  &G.,  have  been  found.  Beware  of  the  natives,  on 
whom  we  have  had  to  fire.  We  do  not  intend  to  return 
to  Adelaide,  but  proceed  to  west  of  north.  From 
information,  all  Burke's  party  were  killed  and  eaten. 

Jno.  McKinlay. 

P.S. — ^All  the  party  in  good  health. 

'  *  If  you  had  any  difficulty  in  reaching  this  spot,  and  wish 
to  return  to  Adelaide  by  a  more  practicable  route,  you 
may  do  so  for  at  least  three  months  to  come  by  driving 
west  eighteen  miles,  then  south  of  west,  cutting  our  dray 
track  within  thirty  miles.  Abundance  of  water  and  feed 
at  easy  stages." 

McKinlay  next  sent  one  of  his  party — Hodgkinson — 
with  men  and  pack-horses  to  Blanche  Water,  to  carry 
down  the  news  of  his  discovery,  and  to  bring  back  rations 
for  a  prolonged  exploration.  Meanwhile  he  remained  in 
camp.  From  one  old  native  with  whom  he  had  a  long 
conversation,  he  obtained  another  version  of  the  alleged 
massacre,  in  which  there  was  apparently  some  vestige  of 
truth. 

The  new  version  was  to  the  effect  that  the  whites,  on 
their  return  had  been  attacked  by  the  natives,  but  had 
repulsed  them.  One  white  man  had  been  killed,  and  had 
been  buried  after  the  fight,  whilst  the  other  whites  went 
south.  The  natives  had  then  dug  up  the  body  and  eaten 
the  flesh.  The  old  fellow  also  described  minutely  the 
different  waters  passed  by  Burke,  and  the  way  in  which 
the  men  subsisted  on  the  seeds  of  the  nardoo  plant,  all 
of  which  he  must  have  heard  from  other  natives. 

After  waiting  a  month,  Hodgkinson  returned,  bringing 
the  news  of  the  rescue  of  King  and  the  fate  of  Burke 
and  Wills.  This  explained  McKinlay 's  discovery  as  that 
of  Gray's  body,  the  narrative  of  the  fight  and  massacre 
being  merely  ornamental  additions  by  the  natives.  After 
an  easterly  excursion,  in  which  he  visited  the  two  graves 
on  Cooper's  Creek,  McKinlay  started  definitely  north. 
It    is    difficult    to    follow  without  a  map  the  Journal 


204  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

containing  the  record  of  his  travel  during  the  first  weeks. 
Not  only  does  he  give  the  native  name  of  every  small 
lakelet  and  waterhole  in  full,  but  he  omits  to  give  the 
bearing  of  his  daily  course. 

A  northerly  course  was  however,  in  the  main  pursued, 
and  McKinlay  describes  the  country  crossed  as  first-class 
pastoral  land.  As  it  was  then  the  dry  season  of  the  year, 
immediately  preceding  the  rains,  it  proves  what  an 
abnormally  severe  season  must  have  been  encountered 
by  Sturt  when  that  explorer  was  turned  back  on  his  last 
trip  in  much  the  same  latitude.  On  the  27th  of  February, 
the  wet  season  of  the  tropics  set  in;  but  fortunately  the 
party  found  a  refuge  among  some  stony  hills  and  sand- 
ridges,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which  they  were  camped, 
though  at  one  time  they  were  completely  surrounded  by 
water.  On  March  10th,  the  rain  had  abated  sufficiently 
to  allow  them  to  resume  their  journey ;  but  the  main  creek 
which  they  still  continued  to  follow  up  north,  was  so 
boggy  and  swollen  that  they  were  forced  to  keep  some 
distance  from  its  banks.  This  river,  which  McKinlay 
called  the  Mueller,  is  one  of  the  main  rivers  of  Central 
Australia,  and  an  important  affluent  of  Lake  Eyre,  and 
is  now  known  as  the  Diamantina.  McKinlay  left  it  at 
the  point  where  it  comes  from  the  north-west,  and 
following  up  a  tributary,  he  crossed  the  dividing  range, 
there  called  the  McKinlay  Eange,  in  about  the  same 
locality  as  Burke's  crossing.  He  had  christened  many 
of  the  inland  watercourses  on  his  way  across,  but  most 
of  his  names  have  been  replaced  by  others,  it  having  been 
difficult  subsequently  to  identify  them.  In  many  cases, 
the  watercourses  which  he  thought  to  be  independent 
creeks,  are  but  ana-branches  of  the  Diamantina. 

Passing  through  good  travelling  country,  and  finding 
ample  grass  and  water,  he  reached  the  Leichhardt  River 
flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  on  the  6th  of  May. 

As  his  rations  were  becoming  perilously  low,  McKinlay 
was  anxious  to  get  to  the  mouth  of  the  Albert,  it  having 
been  understood  that  Captain  Norman,  with  the  steam- 
ship ''Victoria"  was  there  to  form  a  depot  for  the  use 


THE    RELIEF    EXPEDITIONS  205 

of  the  Queensland  search  parties.  His  attempts  to  reach 
it  however,  were  fruitless,  as  he  was  continually  turned 
back  by  mangrove  creeks  both  broad  and  deep,  and  by 
bogg}^  flats;  so  that  on  the  21st  of  May  he  started  for 
the  nearest  settled  district  in  North  Queensland,  in  the 
direction  of  Port  Denison. 

He  followed  much  the  same  route  as  that  taken  by  A. 
C.  Gregory  on  his  return  from  the  Victoria  Eiver.* 
Crossing  on  to  the  head  of  the  Burdekin,  he  followed  that 
river  down,  trusting  to  come  across  some  of  the  flocks 
and  herds  of  the  advancing  settlers.  On  reaching  Mount 
McConnell,  where  the  two  former  explorers  had  crossed 
the  Burdekin,  he  continued  to  follow  the  river,  and 
descended  the  coast  range  where  it  forces  its  way 
through  a  narrow  gorge.  Here  on  the  Bowen  River,  he 
arrived  at  a  temporary  station  just  formed  by  Phillip 
Somer,  where  he  received  all  the  accustomed  hospitality. 
Since  leaving  the  Gulf,  the  explorers  had  subsisted  on 
little  else  but  horse  and  camel  flesh,  and  were  necessarily 
in  a  weak  condition.  Had  they  but  camped  a  day  or  two 
when  on  the  upper  course  of  the  Burdekin,  they  would 
have  been  relieved  much  earlier,  for  the  pioneer  squatters 
were  already  there,  and  the  party  would  have  been  spared 
a  rough  trip  through  the  Burdekin  Gorge.  In  fact  the 
tracks  of  the  camels  were  seen  by  one  pioneer  at  least, 
a  few  hours  after  the  caraVan  had  passed.  E. 
Cunningham,  who  had  just  then  formed  Burdekin  Downs 
station,  tells  with  much  amusement  how  McKinlay's 
tracks  puzzled  him  and  his  black  boy.  The  Burdekin 
pioneers  did  not  of  course,  expect  McKinlay's  advent 
amongst  them,  although  they  knew  that  he  was  then 
somewhere  out  west;  and  such  an  animal  as  a  camel  did 
not  enter  into  their  calculations.  Cunningham  said  that 
the  only  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  footprints  that 
he  could  think  of  was  that  the  tracks  were  those  of  a 
return  party  who  had  been  looking  for  new  country,  and 
that  their  horses,  having  lost  their  shoes  and  becoming 
footsore,  they  had  wrapped  their  feet  in  bandages. 

*  See  page  250. 


206  EXPLOBEKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

For  his  services  on  this  expedition,  which  were  of 
great  vahie  in  opening  up  Central  Australia,  McKinlay 
was  presented  with  a  gold  watch  by  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  and  was  voted  £1,000  by  the  South 
Australian  Government. 

During  the  early  settlement  of  the  Northern  Territory, 
much  dissatisfaction  had  arisen  concerning  the  site 
chosen  at  Escape  Cliffs.  McKinlay  was  sent  north  by 
the  South  Australian  Government  to  select  a  more 
favourable  position,  and  to  report  generally  on  the 
capabilities  of  the  new  territory.  He  organized  an 
expedition  at  Escape  Cliffs,  and  left  with  the  intention 
of  making  a  long  excursion  to  the  eastward.  But  a  very 
wet  season  set  in,  and  he  had  reached  only  the  East 
Alligator  River  when  sudden  floods  cut  him  off  and 
hemmed  him  in.  The  whole  party  would  have  been 
destroyed  but  for  the  resourcefulness  displayed  by  the 
leader,  who  made  coracles  of  horse-hides  stretched  on 
frames  of  saplings,  by  which  means  they  escaped.  On  his 
return,  McKinlay  examined  the  mouth  of  the  Daly  River, 
and  recommended  Anson  Bay  as  a  more  suitable  site, 
but  his  suggestion  was  not  adopted.  McKinlay,  whose 
health  suffered  from  the  effect  of  the  hardships  incident 
to  his  journeys,  retired  to  spend  his  days  in  the  congenial 
atmosphere  of  pastoral  pursuits,  and  died,  in  1874,  at 
Gawler,  South  Australia,  where  a  monument  is  erected 
to  his  memory. 

(ii.) — William  Landsboeough. 

"William  Landsborough,  the  son  of  a  Scotch  physician, 
was  born  in  Ayrshire  and  educated  at  Irvine.  When  he 
came  to  Australia,  he  settled  first  in  the  New  England 
district  of  New  South  Wales,  and  thence  removed  to 
Queensland.  In  1856,  his  interest  in  discovery  and  a 
desire  to  find  new  country,  led  him  to  undertake  much 
private  exploration,  principally  on  the  coastal  parts  of 
Queensland,  in  the  district  of  Broadsound  and  the  Isaacs 
River.  In  1858  he  explored  the  Comet  to  its  head,  and 
in  the  following  year  the  head  waters  of  the  Thomson. 


THE    BELIEF    EXPEDITIONS  207 

An  old  friend  and  erstwMle  comrade,  writing  of  him^ 
says: — ''Landsborough's  enterprise  was  entirely  founded 
on  self-reliance.  He  had  neither  Government  aid  nor 
capitalists  at  his  back  when  he  achieved  his  first  success 
as  an  explorer.  He  was  the  very  model  of  a  pioneer — 
courageous,  hardy,  good-humoured,  and  kindly.  He  was 
an  excellent  horseman,  a  most  entertaining  and,  at  times, 
eccentric  companion,  and  he  could  starve  with  greater 
cheerfulness  than  any  man  I  ever  saw  or  heard  of.  But, 
excellent  fellow  though  he  was,  his  very  independence  of 
character  and  success  in  exploring  provoked  much 
ill-will." 

Landsborough  was  recommended  for  the  position  of 
leader  by  the  veteran  A.  C.  Gregory,  and  on  the  14th  of 
August  he  left  Brisbane  in  the  ''Firefly,"  having  on 
board  a  party  of  volunteer  assistants  who  had  been 
stirred  by  the  widespread  sympathy  with  the  missing 
men  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  relief  expedition. 
Unfortunately,  those  under  Landsborough  were,  with  one 
exception,  unacquainted  with  bush  life.  The  exception 
was  George  Bourne,  the  second  in  command,  an  old 
squatter  who  had  seen  and  suffered  many  a  long  drought, 
and  whose  services  proved  to  be  of  great  value.  After 
some  mishap  the  ''Firefly,"  convoyed  by  the  "Victoria," 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Albert  Eiver,  where  the  party 
was  safely  landed. 

After  starting  from  the  Albert,  Landsborough  came 
unexpectedly  upon  a  river  hitherto  unknown.  It  flowed 
into  the  Nicholson,  and  both  Leichhardt  and  Gregory  had 
crossed  below  the  confluence.  It  was  a  running  stream 
with  much  semi-tropical  foliage  on  its  banks,  running 
through  well-grassed,  level  country,  and  he  named  it  the 
Gregory.  As  they  neared  the  higher  reaches  of  the 
Gregory,  they  found  the  country  of  a  more  arid  nature. 
They  ascended  the  main  range,  and  on  the  21st  of 
December,  Landsborough  found  an  inland  river  flowing^ 
south,  which  he  named  the  Herbert.  The  Queensland 
authorities  subsequently  re-christened  the  stream  with 
the  singularly  inappropriate  name  of  Georgina.    In  this 


208  EXPLOREKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

river  two  fine  sheets  of  water  were  found,  and  called  Lake 
Frances  and  Lake  Mary.  An  ineffectual  attempt  was 
then  made  to  go  westward,  but  lack  of  water  compelled 
them  to  desist. 

Landsborough  now  returned  to  the  depot  by  way  of 
the  Gregory,  and,  on  arriving  there,  learnt  that  Walker 
had  been  in  and  had  reported  having  seen  the  tracks  of 
Burke  and  Wills  on  the  Flinders.  Landsborough  there- 
upon resolved  to  return  by  way  of  the  Flinders,  instead 
of  going  back  by  boat.  They  had  very  little  provisions, 
but  by  reducing  the  number  of  the  party,  they  managed 
to  subsist  on  short  allowance.  On  this  second  trip,  he 
followed  the  Flinders  up,  and  was  rewarded  by  being 
the  first  white  man  to  see  the  beautiful  prairie-like 
country  through  which  it  flows.  He  named  the  remark- 
able isolated  hills  visible  from  the  river  Fort  Bowen, 
Mount  Brown  and  Mount  Little.  From  the  upper 
Flinders  he  struck  south,  hoping  to  come  across  a  newly- 
formed  station,  but  was  disappointed,  though  he  saw 
numerous  horse-tracks  showing  that  settlement  was  near 
at  hand.  At  last  after  enduring  a  long  period  of  semi- 
starvation,  they  reached  the  Warrego,  and  at  the  station 
of  Neilson  and  Williams,  first  learnt  the  fate  of  those 
whom  they  had  been  seeking. 

Landsborough  was  next  appointed  Eesident  at  Burke- 
town,  and  afterwards  Inspector  of  Brands  for  the  district 
of  East  Moreton.    He  died  in  1886. 

(iii.) — P.  E.  Warburton. 

Major  Warburton  was  the  fourth  son  of  the  Rev. 
Rowland  Warburton  of  Arley  Hall,  Cheshire,  where  he 
was  born  on  the  15th  of  August,  1813.  He  was  first 
educated  in  France.  He  entered  the  Royal  Navy  in  1826, 
and  in  1829  proceeded  to  Addiscombe  College, 
preparatory  to  entering  the  East  India  Company's 
service,  in  which  he  served  from  1831  to  1853,  when  he 
retired  with  the  rank  of  Major.  In  1853  he  arrived  at 
Albany.  From  there  he  went  on  to  Adelaide,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  same  year  was  appointed  Commissioner  of 


THE    EELIEF    EXPEDITIONS 


209 


Police,  an  office  wliicli  he  held  until  he  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  Imperial  Pension  Department.  On  his 
return  from  his  exploring  expedition  he  was  voted  £1,000 
for  himself,  and  £500  for  his  party.  He  was  created  a 
C.M.G.  in  1875,  was  awarded  the  Gold  Medal  of  the  Eoyal 
Geographical  Society  of  London,  and  he  died  in  1889. 
In  1873  two  prominent  South  Australian  colonists, 
whose  names  are  intimately  connected  with  the  promotion 
of  exploration  in  that  colony,  Thomas  Elder  and  Walter 
Hughes,  fitted  out  an  expedition  which  it  was  hoped  would 

lead  to  the  rapid  advance- 
ment of  geographical 
knowledge.  Unfortunately 
the  result  was  not  com- 
mensurate with  the  am- 
bitious nature  of  the 
undertaking.  The  com- 
mand was  given  to  Major 
Warburton,  who  was  in- 
structed to  start  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Central 
Mount  Stuart,  and  to  steer 
a  course  direct  to  Perth. 
In  spite  of  being  provided 
with  a  long  string  of 
camels,  Warburton  in- 
curred so  much  delay  in  getting  through  the  sandhills 
that  his  camels  were  Imocked  up  and  his  provisions 
nearly  all  consumed  before  he  had  advanced  half-way. 
This  compelled  him  to  bear  up  north  to  the  head  waters 
of  the  Oakover  Eiver.  Besides  the  leader,  the  party 
consisted  of  his  son  Eichard;  Lewis,  a  surveyor;  one 
more  white  man ;  two  Afghans ;  and  a  native.  Lewis,  the 
surveyor,  showed  himself  to  be  a  most  capable  man;  in 
fact,  but  for  his  energy  and  forethought,  the  expedition 
would  have  been  swallowed  up  in  the  sands  of  the  north- 
west desert. 

On  the  15th  of  April,  1873,  the  explorers  left  Alice 
Springs  and  followed  the  overland  line  until  they  reached 


Major  ^\"al•bul•ton. 


210  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

a  creek  called  Burt's  Creek,  whence  they  struck  to  the 
westward.  After  a  vain  search  for  the  rivers  Hugh  and 
Fincke,  which  were  popularly  supposed  to  rise  to  the 
north  of  the  McDonnell  Ranges,  Warburton  altered  his 
course  to  the  north-west,  meaning  to  connect  with  A.  C. 
Gregory's  most  southerly  point  on  Sturt's  Creek.  For 
some  distance  his  way  led  him  through  available  pastoral 
country,  and  in  some  of  the  minor  ranges  beautiful  glens 
were  discovered  with  deep  pools  of  water  in  their  beds. 
So  frightened  were  the  camels  by  the  rocks  that 
surrounded  them,  that  they  would  not  approach  them  to 
drink.  On  the  22nd  of  May,  after  travelling  for  some 
days  in  poor  sandy  country,  they  came  to  a  good  creek 
with  a  full  head.  The  whole  flat,  on  to  which  the  creek 
emerged  from  the  hills,  was  one  vast  spring.  This  place^ 
the  best  camp  they  had  yet  met  with,  was  named  Eva 
Springs.  Leaving  the  main  body  resting  at  these  springs, 
the  leader,  with  two  companions,  started  ahead,  and  was 
successful  in  finding  some  native  wells  that  enabled  him 
to  break  up  his  main  camp  and  advance  with  all  the  men 
and  material. 

On  the  5th  of  June  they  crossed  the  boundary-line 
between  the  two  colonies,  and  found  themselves  on  the 
scrubbj^,  sandy  tableland  common  to  the  interior.  At 
some  native  wells,  which  were  called  Waterloo  Wells, 
they  made  an  enforced  sojourn  of  about  a  month;  in 
addition  they  lost  three  camels,  and  one  of  the  Afghans 
nearly  died  of  scurvy.  When  they  were  at  last  enabled 
to  leave  the  Waterloo  Wells,  they  found  themselves 
plunged  into  the  salt  lake  country,  where  the  native 
inhabitants  exist  on  shallow  wells  and  soakage  springs. 
By  their  reckoning  they  were  now  within  ten  miles  of 
Gregory's  Sturt's  Creek;  but  though  Warburton  made 
two  separate  attempts  to  find  the  place,  he  was  unable  to 
recognise  any  country  that  at  all  resembled  the 
description  given  by  Gregory.  Rightfully  ascribing  this 
disappointment  to  an  error  in  his  longitude,  he  proceeded 
on  a  westerly  course  once  more.  The  tale  of  each  day's 
journey  now  becomes  a  dreary  record  of  travels  across 


THE    BELIEF    EXPEDITIONS  211 

a  monotonous  barren  country,  and  an  incessant  search 
for  native  wells,  their  only  means  of  sustaining  life. 

In  addition  to  other  causes  for  delay,  the  excessive 
heat  caused  by  radiation  from  the  surrounding  sandhills 
during  the  day,  compelled  the  leader  to  spare  his  camels 
as  much  as  possible  by  travelling  at  night.  This  naturally 
led  to  a  most  unsatisfactory  inspection  of  the  country 
traversed,  and  it  was  impossible  to  say  what  clues  to 
water  were  passed  by  unwittingly. 

Starvation  now  commenced  to  press  close  upon  them; 
the  constant  delays  had  so  reduced  their  store  of 
provisions  that  they  were  almost  at  the  end  of  their 
resources,  whilst  still  surrounded  by  the  endless  desert 
of  sand-ridges  and  spinifex.  Sickness,  too,  befel  them, 
so  that  almost  the  full  brunt  of  the  work  of  the  expedition 
was  placed  upon  the  capable  shoulders  of  Lewis  and  the 
black  boy  Charley.  The  time  of  these  two  was  taken  up 
in  watching  the  smoke  of  the  fires  of  the  natives,  or 
in  looking  for  their  tracks.  During  the  early  morning 
and  in  the  evening  they  could  travel  a  little,  but  at  night 
the  myriad  swarms  of  ants  prevented  the  tired  men  from 
obtaining  their  natural  sleep.  If  they  stopped  to  rest 
the  camels,  they  only  prolonged  their  own  starvation; 
yet  without  rest  the  camels  could  not  carry  them  ahead 
in  the  search  for  water.  On  the  9th  of  October,  the 
camels  strayed  away  during  the  night,  but  luckily  came 
across  a  small  waterhole,  and  at  this  welcome  spot  the 
party  rested  for  a  while;  indeed  with  the  exception  of 
Lewis  and  the  native,  they  were  all  too  weak  to  do  aught 
else.  They  slaughtered  a  camel,  and  were  fortunate  to 
shoot  a  few  pigeons  and  galah  parrots,  the  fresh  meat 
restoring  a  little  of  their  strength.  They  had  long  since 
despaired  of  carrying  out  the  original  purpose  of  the 
expedition.  All  that  they  could  hope  for  was  to  struggle 
on  with  the  last  remaining  flicker  of  life  to  the  nearest 
settled  country.  This  was  the  Oakover  Eiver,  on  the 
north  coast,  and  to  the  head  of  the  Oakover,  therefore, 
their  worn-out  camels  were  directed.  They  could 
entertain  no  hope  of  relief  before  reaching  the  Oakover, 


212  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

for  the  discoverer  of  that  river,  Frank  Gregory,  a  man 
always  reluctant  to  acknowledge  defeat,  had  been  turned 
from  his  southward  attempt  by  this  very  desert  across 
which  they  were  painfully  toiling.  On  the  evening  that 
they  started  for  the  station,  the  whole  party  were  about 
to  ride  blindly  on  into  waterless  country,  where,  but  for 
the  black  boy,  they  would  all  have  perished.  The  boy  had 
left  the  camp  early  in  the  morning,  and,  having  come 
across  the  fresh  tracks  of  some  natives,  followed  them 
up  to  their  camp,  where  he  found  a  well.  He  hastened 
back  to  the  party  to  tell  them  of  his  discovery,  only  to 
find  that  they  had  gone.  Fortunately  he  had  sharp  ears, 
and  hearing  the  distant  receding  tinkle  of  the  camel-bell, 
by  dint  of  energetically  pushing  on  and  cooeeing  loudly, 
he  managed  to  attract  their  attention,  and  then  led  them 
back  to  the  new  source  of  relief.  Lewis  and  the  black  boy 
were  now  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  party,  and  but  for  them 
the  expedition  would  never  have  reached  the  river. 

A  fresh  start  was  made  after  a  welcome  halt  at  this 
well.  Warburton  and  his  son  could  scarcely  sit  their 
camels,  and  followed  the  wearj^  caravan  almost  with 
apathy.  On  the  14th  of  November  Charley  found  another 
native  well;  but  its  discovery  nearly  cost  him  his  life. 
When  close  to  the  native  camp,  he  had  gone  ahead  by 
himself,  as  he  usually  did,  so  as  not  to  startle  the 
aboriginals.  The  blacks  received  him  kindly  and  gave 
him  water,  but  when  he  cooeed  for  his  companion,  they 
took  sudden  alarm  and  attacked  him.  They  had  speared 
him  in  the  arm  and  back,  and  cut  his  head  open  with  a 
club  when  Lewis  came  up  just  in  time  to  rescue  him. 
Evidently  this  attack  was  not  premeditated,  but  caused 
by  the  sudden  fear  aroused  by  the  sight  of  the  white  men 
and  camels.  At  this  well  Lewis  and  one  of  the  Afghans 
went  ahead  to  strike  the  head  of  the  Oakover,  for  they 
thought  they  must  be  drawing  near  the  coast,  as  the 
nights  were  growing  cool  and  dewy,  and  they  had  found 
traces  of  white  iron  work  in  an  old  camp.  In  a  week 
Lewis  returned,  having  reached  a  tributary  of  the  river; 
and  on  the  5th  of  December  the  whole  party  arrived  at 
the  rocky  creek  that  he  had  found. 


THE    RELIEF    EXPEDITIONS  213 

They  now  proceeded  slowly  down  the  Oakover,  but 
came  across  no  sign  of  occupation.  The  indefatigable 
Lewis  had  therefore  again  to  go  ahead  for  help  whilst 
the  others  waited  for  him,  living  on  the  flesh  of  the  last 
camel.  He  had  170  miles  to  journey  over  before  he 
reached  the  cattle  station  belonging  to  Grant,  Harper,  and 
Anderson,  where  he  was  immediately  supplied  with 
horses  and  provisions  to  take  back  to  the  starving  men. 

It  was  on  the  29th  of  December  as  Warburton  was 
lying  in  the  shade  thinking  moodily  that  the  station  must 
have  been  abandoned,  and  that  Lewis  had  surely  been 
compelled  to  push  on  to  Roebourne,  when  the  black  boy 
from  a  tree-top  gave  a  cheerful  signal.  Starting  to  their 
feet,  the  astonished  men  found  the  pack-horses  and  the 
relief  party  almost  in  their  camp. 

Of  the  seventeen  camels  with  which  they  had  started, 
the  two  that  Lewis  had  taken  on  to  the  station  were 
the  only  survivors;  and  all  their  equipment  had  been 
abandoned  piecemeal  in  the  desert. 

(iv.) — William  Christie  Gosse. 

On  the  23rd  of  April,  about  a  week  after  the  departure 
of  Warburton,  William  Christie  Gosse,  Deputy  Surveyor- 
General  of  South  Australia,  also  left  Alice  Springs  on 
an  exploring  expedition,  having,  been  appointed  by  the 
South  Australian  Government  to  take  charge  of  the 
''Central  and  Western  Exploring  Expedition."  Like 
Warburton,  he  was  frustrated  by  dry  country  in  his 
endeavour  to  reach  Perth.  He  had  with  him  both  white 
men  and  Afghan  camel  drivers,  and  a  mixed  outfit  of 
horses  and  camels.  He  left  the  telegraph  line  and  struck 
westward,  soon  finding  himself  in  very  dry  country, 
where  he  lost  one  horse  on  a  dry  stage.  He  made  a  depot 
camp  on  a  creek  which  he  called  the  Warburton,  and  while 
on  an  excursion  from  this  camp  he  had  the  singular 
experience  of  riding  all  day  through  heavy  rain  and 
camping  at  night  without  water,  the  sandy  soil  having 
quickly  absorbed  the  downpour.  On  his  return  he  found 
that  the  creek  at  the  camp  was  running,  and  though 


214 


EXPLOEEES   OP   AUSTEALIA 


repeated  attempts  had  been  made  by  the  Afghans  to  goad 
one  of  the  camels  over,  the  animal  obstinately  refused  to 
cross.  Probably  the  leader  thought  that  it  was  fortunate 
for  the  progress  of  the  expedition  that  they  were  not 
likely  to  meet  with  many  more  running  streams.  After 
passing  both  War  burton's  tracks  and  those  of  Giles, 
Gosse  reached  the  extreme  western  point  of  the 
Macdonnell  Ranges,  where  another  stationary  camp  was 
pitched.  The  leader  made  a  long  excursion  to  the  south- 
west, and  at  84  miles,  after  passing  over  sand-ridges  and 

spinifex  country,  caught 
sight  of  a  remarkable  hill, 
that  on  a  nearer  approach 
proved  to  be  of  singular 
limestone  formation. 

''When  I  got  clear  of 
the  sandhills,  and  was  only 
two  miles  distant,  and  the 
hill,  for  the  first  time 
coming  fairly  in  view, 
what  was  my  astonishment 
to  find  it  was  one  immense 
rock  rising  abruptly  from 
the  plain;  the  holes  I  had 
noticed  were  caused  by  the 
water  in  some  places  caus- 
ing immense  caves." 

This  hill,  which  Gosse 
made  an  ineffectual  attempt 
to  ascend,  he  called  Ayer's  Rock.  He  returned  to  his  depot 
camp,  crossing  an  arm  of  Lake  Amadeus  as  he  did  so, 
and  moved  the  main  body  on  to  Ayer  's  Rock.  Rain  having 
set  in  heavily  for  some  days,  he  pushed  some  distance 
into  Western  Australia,  but  soon  reached  the  limit  of 
the  rainfall.  After  many  attempts  to  penetrate  the  sand- 
hill region  which  confronted  him,  the  heat  and  aridity 
compelled  him  to  turn  back. 

His  homeward  course  was  by  way  of  the  Musgrave 
Ranges,  where  he  found  a  greater  extent  of  pastoral 


William  Christie  Gosse,  Deputy  Surveyor- 
General  of  South  Australia. 


THE    BELIEF    EXPEDITIONS  215 

ooiintry  than  had  been  thought  to  exist  there.  He 
discovered  and  christened  the  Marryat,  and  followed 
down  the  Alberga  to  within  sixty  miles  of  the  Overland 
Line,  when  he  turned  north-eastward  to  the  Charlotte 
Waters  station. 

Although  Gosse's  exploration  did  not  add  any 
important  new  features,  he  tilled  in  many  details  in  the 
central  map,  and  was  able  correctly  to  lay  down  the 
position  of  some  of  the  discoveries  of  Ernest  Giles. 

William  Christie  Gosse  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Gosse,  and 
was  born  in  1842  at  Hoddesdon  in  Hertfordshire.  He 
had  come  to  Australia  with  his  father  in  1850,  and  in  1859 
had  entered  the  Government  service  of  South  Australia. 
He  held  various  positions  in  the  survey  department,  and, 
after  his  return  from  the  exploring  expedition,  he  was 
made  Deputy  Surveyor-General.  He  died  prematurely  on 
August  12th,  1881.  ' 


Chapter  XVI. 
TEAVERSING  THE  CENTRE. 


(i.) — Ernest  Giles. 

Ernest  Giles  was  born  at  Bristol,  a  famous  birthplace 
of  adventurous  spirits.  He  was  educated  at  Christ's 
Hospital,  London,  and  after  leaving  school  came  out  to 
South  Australia  to  join  his  parents,  who  had  preceded 
him  thither.  In  1852  he  went  to  the  Victorian  goldfields, 
and  subsequently  became  a  clerk,  first  in  the  Post  Office, 
Melbourne,  and  afterwards  in  the  county  court. 

Having  resigned  his  clerkship,  he  pursued  a  bush  life, 
and  in  1872  made  his  first  effort  in  the  field  of  exploration. 
His  party  was  a  small  one,  the  funds  being  found  by 
contributions  from  S.  Carmichael,  one  of  the  party, 
Baron  von  Mueller,  Giles  himself,  and  one  of  his  relatives. 
The  members  of  the  expedition  were  Giles,  Carmichael, 
and  Robinson;  15  horses,  and  a  little  dog  were  included 
in  the  equipment.  They  started  from  Chambers  Pillar, 
and  it  was  on  this  journey  that  Lake  Amadeus  and  Mount 
Olga  were  discovered,  the  two  most  enduring  physical 
features  whose  discovery  we  owe  to  Giles.  The  lake  is 
a  long,  narrow  salt-pan  of  considerable  size,  but  without 
any  important  affluents;  Mount  Olga  is  a  singular 
mountain  situated  about  50  miles  from  the  lake.  On  this 
trip  Giles  went  over  much  untrodden  country,  but  the 
smallness  of  the  party  at  last  convinced  him  that  it  was 
beyond  their  frugal  means  to  force  their  way  through 
the  desert  country  to  the  settlements  of  West  Australia. 
Giles  was  fortunate  on  this  his  first  trip  in  having  two 
able  and  willing  bushmen  for  his  companions ;  otherwise 
he  would  not  have  progressed  as  far  as  he  did  and 
returned  in  safety.  But  most  untiring  endeavours  will 
not  compensate  for  the  lack  of  numbers,  and  Giles  was 
forced  to  return  beaten  from  his  first  attempt. 

216 


TKAVERSING    THE    CENTRE 


217 


His  second  expedition  took  place  about  the  same  time 
as  that  undertaken  by  Gosse.  In  consequence  of  a  stirring 
appeal  by  Baron  von  Mueller,  he  had  now  the  advantage 
of  both  substantial  private  help  and  a  small  sum  from  the 
South  Australian  Government.  The  party  numbered 
four:  W.  H.  Tietkins,  who 
afterwards  made  an  honour- 
able name  as  an  independent 
explorer ;  the  unfortunate 
Alfred  Gibson;  and  a  lad 
named  Andrews,  in  addition 
to  the  leader. 

Giles  left  the  settled  dis- 
tricts at  the  Alberga,  and 
made  several  determined 
efforts  to  push  through  the 
sandy  spinifex  desert  that 
had  baffled  so  many.  It  was 
during  one  of  these  forlorn 
hopes  that  Gibson  died. 

Anxious  to  reach  a  range 
which  he  had  sighted  in  the  distance,  and  where 
he  hoped  to  find  a  change  of  countrj^,  Giles  made 
up  his  mind  to  make  a  determined  effort  to 
reach  it,  carrying  a  supply  of  water  with  him  on  pack- 
horses.  As  usual,  Tietkins  was  to  accompany  him,  but 
as  Gibson  complained  of  having  been  always  previously 
left  in  camp,  he  was  allowed  to  go  instead.  The  two  kept 
doggedly  on,  the  horses,  as  they  gave  in,  being  left  to 
find  their  way  back  to  the  main  camp.  At  last,  when 
several  days  out,  they  had  but  two  horses  left.  Giles 
sent  Gibson  back  on  one,  with  instructions  to  push  on 
for  the  camp,  taking  what  little  water  he  wanted  out  of 
a  keg  they  had  buried  on  their  outward  way,  leaving  the 
remainder  for  his  use.  He  himself  intended  to  make  a 
final  effort  to  reach  the  range. 

Giles's  horse  soon  gave  in  after  they  parted,  and  he 
had  to  start  to  return  on  foot.  On  his  weary  way  back 
he  saw  that  one  of  the  abandoned  horses  had  turned  off 


'Baron  Sir  Ferdinand  von  Mueller 


218  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

from  the  trail,  and  that  Gibson's  tracks  turned  off  too, 
seemingly  following  it.  When  he  reached  the  keg,  he 
found  that  the  contents  were  untouched.  Fearing  greatly 
that  the  unfortunate  man's  fate  was  sealed,  Giles  dragged 
himself  on  to  the  camp.  A  search  was  at  once  instituted, 
but  it  was  fruitless.  Neither  man  nor  horse  was  ever 
seen  again;  and  the  scene  of  his  fate  is  known  as  Gibson's 
Desert. 

During  his  excursions  in  various  directions,  Giles 
discovered  and  traversed  four  different  ranges  of  hills. 
The  party  were  much  worried  by  the  hostility  of  the 
blacks,  and,  what  with  the  uneasiness  caused  by  their 
attacks,  the  plague  of  myriads  of  ants,  the  loss  of  Gibson, 
and  the  failure  of  their  own  hopes,  they  were  forced  to 
return  to  Adelaide,  baffled  for  a  time,  but  not  beaten. 

We  thus  see  how  the  arid  belt  of  the  middle  country 
had  defied  three  different  explorers— Warburton,  Gosse, 
and  Giles — one  equipped  with  camels  only,  one  with 
camels  and  horses,  and  one  who  had  relied  on  horses 
alone. 

In  1875  Giles  took  the  field  once  more.  This  time,  owing 
to  the  generosity  of  Sir  Thomas  Elder,  of  South 
Australia,  he  was  well-prepared.  He  had  a  fine  caravan 
of  camels,  and  had  his  former  companion  Tietkins  with 
him,  besides  a  completely-equipped  party. 

The  start  was  made  from  Beltana,  the  next  halting- 
place  being  Youldeh,  where  a  depot  was  formed.  From 
this  place  they  shifted  north  to  a  native  well,  Oaldabinna. 
As  the  water  supply  here  proved  but  scanty,  Giles  started 
off  to  the  westward  to  search  for  a  better  j)lace,  sending 
Tietkins  to  the  north  on  a  similar  errand  accompanied 
by  Young. 

Giles  pushed  his  way  for  150  miles  through  scrub  and 
past  shallow  lakelets  of  salt  water  until  he  came  to  a 
native  well  or  dam,  containing  a  small  supply  of  water. 
Beyond  this  he  went  another  30  miles,  but  finding  himself 
amongst  saline  swamps  and  scrub,  he  then  returned  to 
the  depot.  Tietkins  and  his  companion  were  not  so 
successful.    At  their  furthest  point  they  had  come  across 


TRAVERSING    THE    CENTRE  219 

a  large  number  of  natives,  who,  after  decamping  in  a 
terrified  manner,  returned  fully  armed  and  painted  for 
war.  No  attempts  of  the  two  white  men  to  open  friendly 
communication  or  to  obtain  any  information  from  them 
had  succeeded. 

A  slight  shower  of  rain  having  replenished  the  well 
they  were  camped  at,  Giles  determined  to  make  a  bold 
push  to  the  west,  trusting  to  the  powers  of  endurance 
of  his  camels  to  carry  him  on  to  water. 

On  reaching  the  dam  that  he  had  formerly  visited,  he 
was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  that  it  had  been  nearly 
filled  by  the  late  rains.     As  it  now  contained  plenty  of 


A  Camel  Caravan  in  an  Australian  Desert. 


water  for  their  wants,  and  there  was  good  feed  all  around, 
they  rested  by  it  until  the  supply  of  water  began  to  show 
signs  of  declining. 

On  the  16th  of  September,  1875,  he  left  the  Boundary 
Dam,  as  he  called  it,  and  commenced  to  try  conclusions 
with  the  desert  to  the  westward.  For  the  first  six  days 
of  their  march  the  caravan  passed  through  scrubs  of 
oak,  mulga,  and  sandalwood ;  next  they  entered  upon  vast 
plains  well-grassed,  with  salt-bush  and  other  edible 
shrubs  growing  upon  them.  Crossing  these,  the  camel 
train  again  passed  through  scrub,  but  not  so  dense  as 
before. 

When  250  miles  had  been  accomplished,  Giles 
distributed  amongst  the  camels  the  water  he  had  carried 


220  EXPLOKERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

with  Mm.  As  they  kept  on,  sand-ridges  began  to  make 
their  appearance,  native  smoke  was  often  seen,  and  they 
frequently  crossed  the  tracks  of  the  natives. 

On  the  seventeenth  day  from  the  Boundary  Dam, 
Tietkins,  who  judged  by  the  appearance  of  the  sandhills 
that  there  was  water  in  the  neighbourhood,  sent  the  black 
boy  Tommy  on  to  a  ridge  lying  south  of  their  course.  It 
was  fortunate  that  he  did  so,  for  hidden  in  a  hollow 
surrounded  by  sandhills  was  a  tiny  lake  which  they  were 
passing  by  unheeded  until  Tommy  arrested  their  progress 
with  frantic  shouts.  Giles  gave  this  place  of  succour, 
which  he  should  have  named  after  his  companion,  the 
commonplace  name  of  Victoria  Spring;  and  here  the 
caravan  rested  for  nine  days. 

Recruited  and  in  good  spirits,  they  soon  found  them- 
selves amongst  the  distinctive  features  of  the  inner  slopes 
of  Western  Australia- — outcrops  of  granite  mounds  and 
boulders,  salt  lakes,  and  bogs.  Their  next  camp  of  relief 
was  at  a  native  well  200  miles  from  Victoria  Spring. 

The  quietude  of  their  life  at  this  encampment  was  how- 
ever rudely  broken  by  the  natives.  During  their  stay  they 
had  had  friendly  intercourse  with  the  blacks,  but  no 
suspicions  of  treachery  had  been  aroused.  The  explorers 
were  just  concluding  their  evening  meal  when  Young  saw 
a  mob  of  armed  and  painted  natives  approaching.  He 
caught  sight  of  them  in  time  to  give  the  alarm  to  the 
others,  who  stood  to  their  arms.  Giles  says  in  his  journal 
that  they  were  ''a  perfectly  armed  and  drilled  force, '^ 
though  military  discipline  was  a  singular  characteristic 
to  find  amongst  the  blacks  of  this  barren  region.  A 
discharge  of  firearms  from  the  whites  checked  their 
assailants  before  any  spears  had  been  thrown,  and 
probably  prevented  the  massacre  of  the  whole  party. 

On  leaving  this  camp  the  caravan  travelled  through 
dense  scrub,  with  occasional  hills  and  patches  of  open 
country  intervening.  They  were  fortunate  to  find  some 
wells  on  the  way,  and  on  the  4th  of  November  arrived 
at  an  outside  sheep-station  in  the  settled  districts  of 


TRAVEESING    THE    CENTRE  221 

Western  Australia,  and  Giles's  long-cherished  ambition 
was  at  last  fulfilled. 

The  result  of  this  trip  was  satisfactory  to  Giles,  who 
thus  saw  his  many  fruitless,  though  gallant  efforts,  at 
last  crowned  with  success;  but  the  journey  had  no 
substantial  geographical  or  economic  results.  It 
resembled  Warburton's  in  having  been  a  hasty  flight  with 
camels  through  an  unknown  country,  marking  only  a 
thin  line  on  the  map  of  Australia.  An  explorer  with  the 
means  at  his  command,  in  the  shape  of  camels,  of 
venturing  on  long  dry  stages  with  impunity,  is  tempted 
to  sacrifice  extended  exploration  of  the  country  bordering 
his  route  and  the  deeper  and  more  valuable  knowledge 
that  it  brings  to  rapidity  of  onward  movement.  John 
Forrest,  for  example,  was  able,  owing  to  the  many  minor 
excursions  he  was  forced  to  make  because  of  the  nature 
of  his  equipment,  to  gain  infinitely  more  knowledge  of  the 
geographical  details  of  the  country  he  passed  over  than 
either  Warburton  or  Giles. 

Giles  now  retraced  his  steps  to  South  Australia, 
following  a  line  to  the  northward  of  Forrest's  track.  He 
went  by  way  of  the  Murchison,  and  crossed  over  the 
Gascoyne  to  the  Ashburton,  which  he  followed  up  to  its 
head.  Then  striking  to  the  south  of  east,  he  cut  his 
former  track  of  1873  at  the  Alfred  and  Marie  Range, 
the  range  he  had  so  ardently  striven  to  reach  when  the 
unfortunate  man  Gibson  died.  How  futile  was  the  vain 
attempt  that  led  to  Gibson's  death  he  now  realised.  He 
finally  arrived  at  the  Peake  telegraph  station.  Few 
watercourses  were  crossed;  the  country  was  suffering 
under  extreme  drought ;  and  no  discoveries  of  importance 
were  made. 

Giles  published  a  narrative  of  his  explorations  entitled 
''Australia  Twice  Traversed."  He  was  a  gold  medallist 
of  the  R.G.S.  He  entered  the  West  Australian  Govern- 
ment service  on  the  Coolgardie  goldfields,  and,  on  the 
13th  of  November,  1897,  died  at  Coolgardie,  West 
Australia,  where  the  Western  Australian  Government 
erected  a  monument  to  his  memory. 


222 


EXPLORERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 


(ii.) — W.  H.  TiETKiNS  AND  Others. 

W.  H.  Tietkins  was  bom  in  London  on  the  30th  of 
August,  1844,  and  was  educated  at  Christ's  Hospital.  He 
arrived  in  Adelaide  in  September,  1859,  and  took  to  bush 
life  and  subsequently  survey-work.  On  the  conclusion 
of  his  exploring  expeditions  with  Ernest  Giles,  he 
engaged  in  the  survey  of  Yorke's  Peninsula  for  the  S.A. 
Government,  and  then  paid  a  visit  to  England.  On  his 
return  he  went  to  Sydney,  and  did  some  survey  work 

for  the  New  South  Wales 
Government  into  whose 
service  he  permanently 
entered.  He  is  now  a 
Lands  Inspector  on  the 
South  Coast. 

After  his  experiences  as 
second  with  Ernest  Giles, 
Tietkins  took  charge,  in 
1889,  of  the  Central  Aus- 
tralian Exploring  Expedi- 
tion. He  left  Alice  Springs 
on  the  overland  line  on  the 
14th  of  March  to  examine 
the  hitherto  unknown 
country  to  the  north  and 
west  of  Lake  Amadeus. 
Late  in  the  month  of  May 
he  discovered  and  named  the  Kintore  Range,  to 
the  north-west  of  Lake  Macdonald,  and  ascended 
one  of  the  elevations,  Mt.  Leisler.  During  the 
beginning  of  the  next  month  he  practically  completed 
the  circuit  of  Lake  Macdonald  and  discovered  the  Bony- 
thorn  Ranges  to  the  south-east.  On  his  return  journey, 
Tietkins  corrected  the  somewhat  exaggerated  notion 
entertained  as  to  the  extent  of  Lake  Amadeus,  as  he  passed 
through  sixty  miles  of  country  supposed  to  be  contained 
in  its  area  without  seeing  a  vestige  of  this  natural  feature. 
In  after  years  he  surveyed  and  correctly  fixed  its  location. 
In  1874,  surveyor  Lewis,  the  gallant  and  tireless  spirit 
whose  indefatigable  efforts  had  pulled  the  Warburton 


W.  H.  Tietkins,  1878. 


TEAVEESING    THE    CENTEE  223 

expedition  out  of  the  fire  took  charge  of  an  expedition 
equipped  by  Sir  Thomas  Elder  to  define  the  many 
affluents  of  Lake  Eyre.  Starting  from  the  overland  line^ 
Lewis  skirted  Lake  Eyre  to  the  north,  penetrated  to 
Eyre 's  Creek,  traced  that  stream  and  the  Diamantina  into 
Lake  Eyre,  and  confirmed  the  opinion  that  the  waters  of 
Cooper's  Creek  as  well  as  the  more  westerly  streams 
found  their  way  into  that  inland  sea.  J.  W.  Lewis,  after- 
wards died  in  Broome,  Western  Australia. 

In  1875  the  Queensland  Government  decided  to  send  out 
an  expedition  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  pastoral  country 
that  existed  to  the  westward  of  the  Diamantina  Eiver. 
It  was  placed  in  charge  of  W.  0.  Hodgkinson,  who  had 
occupied  a  subordinate  position  in  the  Burke  and  Wills 
expedition.  They  started  from  the  upper  reaches  of  the 
Cloncurry  and,  crossing  the  main  dividing  range  on  to 
the  Diamantina,  followed  that  river  down  to  the  southern 
boundary  of  Queensland,  where  it  had  been  named  the 
Everard  by  Lewis.  This  portion  was  now  well-known, 
and  the  tracks  of  the  pioneers'  stock  were  everywhere 
visible.  From  the  lower  Diamantina,  the  party  went 
westwards,  and,  beyond  Eyre's  Creek,  in  good  pastoral 
country,  came  upon  a  watercourse  which  was  named  the 
Mulligan.  This  creek  Hodgkinson  followed  up  to  the 
north;  and,  not  knowing  that  he  had  crossed  its  head 
watershed,  went  on  down  the  Herbert  (Georgina)  under 
the  impression  that  he  was  still  on  the  Mulligan.  He  was 
undeceived  when  he  overtook  N.  Buchanan  with  cattle, 
who  was  theh  engaged  in  re-stocking  the  stations  on  the 
Herbert  that  had  been  abandoned  in  the  commercial 
depression  of  1872-3.  This  was  the  last  exploring 
expedition  sent  out  by  the  Queensland  authorities,  the 
country  within  the  bounds  of  that  colony  being  by  that 
time  all  known. 

But  across  the  western  border,  the  vacant  and  unknown 
country  of  South  Australia  attracted  many  private 
expeditions  to  examine  it  in  search  of  pastoral  holdings. 
Amongst  those  from  Queensland  were  two  brothers 
named  Prout,  who,  with  one  man,   went   out  to    look 


224  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

for  new  grazing  lands,  and  never  returned.  Many  months 
afterwards  a  search-party,  under  W.  J.  H.  Carr-Boyd, 
found  some  of  the  horses,  and  then  the  remains  of  one 
of  the  brothers.  It  was  evident,  from  the  fragments  of 
a  diary  recovered,  that  they  had  pushed  far  into  the  dry 
region  of  South  Australia,  and  had  met  their  deaths  from 
thirst  on  the  return  journey.  Probably  some  of  the 
waters  on  which  they  had  relied  had  unexpectedly  failed. 

In  1878,  Nathaniel  Buchanan,  a  veteran  pioneer  and 
overlander  of  Queensland,  made  an  excursion  from  the 
Queensland  border  to  Tennant's  Creek  on  the  overland 
telegraph  line.  Starting  from  the  Ranken,  a  tributary  of 
the  Georgina,  Buchanan  struck  a  westerly  course,  and 
discovering  the  head  of  a  well-watered  creek  running 
through  fine  open  downs,  he  followed  it  down  to  the 
westward  for  some  days.  The  creek  eventually  ran  out 
into  dry  flats,  so  Buchanan  struck  westward  to  the 
telegraph  line,  which  he  reached  after  some  hardship,  a 
little  to  the  south  of  Tennant's  Creek.  The  creek  which 
he  discovered,  and  to  which  Favenc  afterwards  gave  the 
name  of  Buchanan's  Creek,  was  a  most  important 
discovery,  affording  a  practicable  stock  route  to  the  great 
pastoral  district  lying  between  the  Queensland  border 
and  the  overland  line. 

Frank  Scarr,  a  Queensland  surveyor,  was  the  next  to 
invade  this  strip  of  still  unknown  land.  He  attempted 
to  steer  a  course  south  of  Buchanan's,  but  was  turned 
back  by  the  dry  belt  of  country.  On  this  excursion  he 
also  found  two  of  the  horses  of  the  ill-fated  Prout 
brothers.  Scarr  then  made  further  north,  and,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  creek  discovered  by  Buchanan,  was 
enabled  to  reach  the  line.  Owing  to  the  severity  of  the 
drought,  however,  he  was  unable  to  extend  his  researches 
any  further,  and  returned  safely  to  Queensland. 

In  1878,  a  project  for  a  railway  line  on  the  land-grant 
principle,  between  Brisbane  and  Port  Darwin  was 
originated  in  the  former  city.  The  proprietor  of  the 
leading  Brisbane  newspaper,  Gresley  Lukin,  organized 
and   equipped   a   party   to   explore   a   suitable   line    of 


TEAVEKSING    THE    CENTRE 


225 


country,  the  object  being  to  ascertain  the  nature  and  value 
of  the  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  proposed  line, 
and  the  geographical  features  of  the  unexplored  portion, 
The  leader  was  Ernest  Favenc,  who  was  accompanied  by 
surveyor  Briggs,  G.  Hedley,  and  a  black  boy.  They  left 
Cork  station  on  the  Diamantina,  and  kept  a  north-west 
course  through  the  untraversed   country  between  that 

river  and  the  Georgina, 
or  Herbert,  as  it  was 
then  called.  They  then 
crossed  the  border 
into  South  Australia, 
and  struck  the  creek 
which  Buchanan  had 
found,  and  to  which 
the  name  of  Bu- 
chanan's Creek  was 
now  given.  Leaving 
this  creek  at  the  lowest 
water,  the  party 
struck  north,  and, 
after  finding  two  large 
but  shallow  lakes  came, 
in  the  midst  of  most 
excellent  pastoral 
country,  to  a  fine 
lagoon  which  they 
named  the  Corella 
Lagoon.  The  trees  on 
the  banks  of  this 
lagoon,  which  was 
about  four  miles  long,  were  at  the  time  of  the  visit  white 
with  myriads  of  corella  parrots ;  hence  the  name.  Some 
three  hundred  natives  were  assembled  at  this  lagoon  to 
celebrate  their  tribal  rites;  but  they  showed  a  friendly 
disposition. 

From  the  Corella  Lagoon  the  expedition  proceeded 
north  and  discovered  a  large  creek  running  from  east  to 
west.  It  proved  to  be  one  of  the  principal  creeks  of  that 
region,  and  was  named  Cresswell  Creek ;  and  a  permanent 

Q 


Ernest  Favenc. 


226  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

lagoon  on  it  was  named  the  Anthony  Lagoon.  Cresswell 
Creek  was  followed  down  until,  like  its  fellow  creek  the 
Buchanan,  it  too  was  absorbed  in  dry,  parched  flats.  The 
last  permanent  water  on  Cresswell  Creek  was  named  the 
Adder  Waterholes,  on  account  of  the  large  number  of 
death-adders  that  were  killed  there.  A  dry  stage  of  ninety 
miles  now  intervened  between  the  party  and  the  telegraph 
line,  and  the  first  attempt  to  cross,  on  a  day  of  terrible 
heat,  resulted  in  a  return  to  the  Adder  Camp,  three  horses 
having  succumbed  to  the  heat,  thirst,  and  the  cracked 
and  fissured  arid  plains.  It  being  the  height  of  the  summer 
season,  and  no  water  within  a  reasonable  distance,  it 
was  evidently  useless  to  sacrifice  any  more  horses.  There 
was  nothing  to  do,  therefore,  but  to  await  at  the  last 
camp  the  fall  of  a  kindly  thundershower,  by  means  of 
which  they  might  bridge  the  dry  gap  between  them  and 
the  line. 

The  long  delay  exhausted  the  supply  of  rations,  but  by 
means  of  birds — ducks  and  pigeons — horseflesh,  and  the 
usual  edible  bush  plants — blue-bush  and  pigweed — the 
party  fared  sufficiently  well. 

During  their  detention  at  this  camp,  many  short 
excursions  were  made,  and  the  country  traversed  was 
found  to  be  mostly  richly  grassed  downs.  Where  flooded 
country  was  encroached  upon,  the  dry  beds  of  former 
lakes  were  found,  encircled  in  all  cases  with  a  ring  of 
dead  trees. 

In  January,  1879,  the  thunderstorms  set  in,  and  the 
party  reached  Powell 's  Creek  telegraph  station  in  safety. 

This  expedition  opened  up  a  good  deal  of  fine  pastoral 
country,  which  is  now  all  stocked  and  settled. 

Western  Australia  was  still  busy  in  the  field  of 
exploration.  In  1876  Adam  Johns  and  Phillip  Saunders 
started  from  Roebourne  and  crossed  to  the  overland  line 
in  South  Australia.  Ostensibly  theirs  was  a  prospecting 
expedition;  but  as  the  country  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Fitzroy  River  was  then  unknown,  it  was  an  important 
exploration  event.  They  were  unsuccessful  in  finding 
gold,  but  on  their  arrival  at  the  line  they  reported  having 
passed  through  good  pastoral  country. 


TRAVERSING    THE    CENTRE  227 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  east  and  west  tracks  of  the 
Queensland  explorers,  and  of  Alexander  Forrest,*  did 
more  to  throw  open  that  part  of  Australia  to  settlement 
than  did  the  north  and  south  journey  of  Stuart,  more 
important  as  that  one  was  from  the  purely  geographical 
point  of  view.  Stuart  led  the  way  across  the  centre  of 
the  continent,  but  even  after  the  telegraph  line  was 
constructed  on  his  route,  very  little  was  known  of  the 
country  to  the  east  and  the  west. 

The  South  Australian  Government  had  several  times 
made  slight  attempts  to  reach  the  Queensland  border,  but 
in  1878,  they  sent  out  H.  V.  Barclay  to  make  a  trigono- 
metrical survey  of  most  of  the  untraversed  country 
between  the  line  and  the  Queensland  boundary.  Barclay 
left  Alice  Springs,  of  which  station  he  first  fixed  the  exact 
geographical  position  by  a  series  of  telegraphic 
exchanges  with  the  observatory  in  Adelaide.  Barclay 
had  much  dry  country  to  contend  against,  but  managed 
to  reach  a  north  point  close  to  Scarr's  furthest  south. 
He  did  not,  however,  on  that  occasion,  actually  arrive 
at  the  Queensland  border,  but  explored  the  territory  on 
the  South  Australian  side.  During  the  conduct  of  the 
survey  he  discovered  and  named  the  Jervois  Ranges, 
the  spurs  of  the  eastern  Macdonnell,  and  the  following 
tributaries  of  Lake  Eyre — the  Hale,  the  Plenty,  the 
Marshall,  and  the  Arthur  Rivers. 

In  1883,  Favenc,  on  a  private  expedition  to  report  on 
pastoral  country,  traced  the  heads  of  several  of  the  rivers 
of  the  Carpentarian  Gulf,  and  in  the  following  year  left 
the  north  Newcastle  Waters  to  examine  and  trace  the 
Macarthur  River.  The  river  was  followed  from  its  source 
to  the  sea,  and  a  large  extent  of  valuable  pastoral  country 
and  several  permanent  springs  found  in  its  valley;  a 
large  tributary,  the  Kilgour,  was  also  discovered  and 
named.  These  short  excursions,  and  some  exploratory 
trips  made  by  Macphee,  east  of  Daly  Waters,  may  be 
said  to  have  concluded  exploration  between  the  line  and 
the  Queensland  border. 

In  1883,  the  South  Australian  Government  despatched 
an  expedition  in  charge  of  David  Lindsay  to  complete 

*See  Chapter  XIX. 


228  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

the  survey  of  Arnhem's  Land.  Lindsay  left  the  Katherine 
station,  and  proceeded  to  Blue  Mud  Bay.  On  the  way 
the  party  had  a  narrow  escape  of  massacre  at  the  hands 
of  the  blacks,  who  speared  four  horses,  and  made  an 
attempt  to  surprise  the  camp  of  the  whites.  Lindsay  had 
trouble  with  his  horses  in  the  stony,  broken  tableland  that 
had  nearly  baffled  Leichhardt;  and  from  one  misfortune 
and  another,  lost  a  great  number  of  them.  In  fact,  at  one 
time,  so  rough  was  the  country  that  he  anticipated  having 
to  abandon  his  horses  and  make  his  way  into  the 
telegraph  station  on  foot.  On  the  whole,  however,  the 
country  was  favourably  reported  on,  particularly  with 
regard  to  tropical  agriculture. 

Another  journey  was  undertaken  about  this  time  by 
O'Donnell  and  Carr-Boyd,  who  left  the  Katherine  River 
and  pushed  across  the  border  into  Western  Australia. 
They  succeeded  in  finding  a  large  amount  of  pastoral 
country ;  but  no  important  geographical  discoveries  were 
made. 

In  1884  H.  Stockdale,  who  had  had  considerable 
experience  in  the  southern  colonies,  and  was  an  old  bush- 
man,  made  an  excursion  from  Cambridge  Gulf  to  the 
south,  through  the  Kimberley  district.  Stockdale  found 
well-grassed  country  with  numerous  permanently- 
watered  creeks.  When  he  came  to  the  creek  which  he 
named  Buchanan  Creek,  he  formed  a  depot.  On  his  return 
from  an  expedition  to  the  south  with  three  men,  he  found 
that  during  his  absence  the  men  left  in  charge  of  it  had 
been  hunting  kangaroos  with  the  horses  instead  of 
allowing  them  to  rest.  There  were  other  irregularities 
as  well,  and  Stockdale  found  his  resources  too  much 
reduced,  both  in  horseflesh  and  rations,  to  continue  the 
exploration.  They  started  for  the  telegraph  line,  but  on 
the  way  the  two  men  who  had  been  misbehaving  requested 
to  be  left  behind.  As  they  persisted  in  their  wish,  there 
was  nothing  left  but  to  accede  to  it.  The  two  men,  with 
as  much  rations  as  could  be  spared,  arms,  and  powder 
and  shot,  were  then  left  at  their  own  request  on  a 
permanent   creek  in   a   country  where   game   could   be 


TRAVERSING    THE    CENTRE  229 

obtained.  Stockdale  himself  had  to  undergo  some  hard- 
ship before  reaching  the  Overland  Line.  Although  search 
was  made  for  the  two  men,  they  were  never  afterwards 
found. 

One  little  area  of  country,  of  no  great  importance  but 
still  untrodden  by  man  yet  remained  in  Central  Australia, 
as  a  lure  to  excite  the  white  man's  curiosity.  This 
unvisited  spot  was  situated  north  of  latitude  26,  and 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Fincke  Eiver,  on  the  north  by 
the  Plenty  and  Marshall  Elvers  and  part  of  the 
MacDonnell  Eanges,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Hay  Eiver 
and  the  Queensland  border.  An  expedition  to  exploit 
it  was  equipped  by  Eonald  MacPherson,  and  assisted  by 
the  South  Australian  Government  with  the  loan  of 
camels.  The  leader  was  Captain  V.  Barclay,  an  old 
South  Australian  surveyor,  whose  name  has  already  been 
mentioned  in  these  pages. 

Barclay  had  been  born  in  Lancashire,  at  Bury,  on  the 
6th  of  January,  1845.  He  had  entered  the  Eoyal  Navy  in 
1860,  and  had  been  severely  wounded  on  board  H.M.S. 
''Illustrious"  by  a  gun  breaking  loose  when  at  target 
practice.  He  had  emigrated  to  Tasmania  in  the  seventies, 
and  in  1877  had  been  appointed  by  the  South  Australian 
Government  to  explore  the  country  lying  between  the  line 
and  the  Queensland  border,  a  notice  of  which  occurs  in 
the  preceding  pages. 

The  party,  lightly-equipped  to  be  more  effective,  was 
absent  from  Oodnadatta  from  July  24th  until  December 
5th,  1904,  and  in  that  time  accomplished  much  useful 
work  in  the  face  of  great  difficulties.  On  account  of  the 
great  heat,  the  expedition  had  to  resort  to  travelling  by 
night  and  resting  by  day.  The  country  was  principally 
high  sandy  ridges,  some  so  steep  that  it  was  not  easy 
to  find  crossing-places.  They  had  to  sacrifice  a  lot  of 
valuable  stores,  personal  effects,  and  a  valuable  collection 
of  native  curios,  all  chiefly  on  account  of  the  shortness 
of  water. 

By  this  date  the  whole  of  the  central  portion  of 
Australia  was  known,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  mapped ; 
while  all  the  permanently-watered  country  had  been 
rapidly  utilised  by  the  pastoralists. 


Part  111, 


THE   WEST. 


John  Septimus  Roe,  First  Surveyor-General  of  "West  Australia. 


Chapter  XVII. 
ROE,  GREY,  AND  GREGORY 


(i.) — Roe  and  the  Pioneees. 

Whilst  Sturt  and  kindred  bold  spirits  had  been  pain- 
fully but  surely  piecing  together  the  geographical  puzzle 
of  the  south-east  corner  of  the  Australian  continent,  a 
similar  struggle  between  man  and  Nature  had  commenced 
in  the  south-west.  Here,  Nature  kept  close  her  secrets 
with  no  less  pertinacity  than  in  the  east;  but,  though 
the  struggle  was  just  as  arduous,  the  environment  was 
very  different.  Instead  of  rearing  an  unscalable  barrier 
of  gloomy  mountains.  Nature  here  showed  a  level  front 
of  sullen  hostility.  Nor  did  she  lure  the  first  explorers 
inland  with  a  smiling  face  of  welcome  once  the  outworks 
had  been  forced,  as  she  had  drawn  Evans  when  he  reached 
the  head-waters  of  the  Macquarie  and  Lachlan.  Beyond 
the  sources  of  the  western  coastal  streams,  she  fought 
silently  for  every  eastward  mile  of  vantage  ground, 
spreading  before  the  adventurous  intruder  the  salt  lake 
and  the  arid  desert. 

As  far  back  as  1791,  George  Vancouver,  a  whilom 
middy  of  Cook's,  discovered  and  named  King  George's 
Sound,  when  in  command  of  H.M.S.  ''Discovery."  He 
formally  took  possession  of  the  adjacent  country,  and 
remained  there  some  days,  making  a  careful  survey  of 
both  the  inner  and  outer  harbours. 

On  the  9th  of  December,  1826,  Sir  Ralph  Darling,  then 
Governor  of  New  South  Wales,  sent  Major  Lockeyer,  of 
the  57th,  with  a  detachment  of  the  39th,  a  regiment 
intimately  associated  with  the  early  settlement  of 
Australia,  to  form  a  settlement  at  King  George 's  Sound, 
where  they  landed  on  the  25th  of  December  of  the  same 
year.  This  settlement  was  established  in  order  to  fore- 
stall the  French,  who,  according  to  rumour,  intended  to 
occupy  the  harbour  and  adjacent  lands. 


234  EXPLOREKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

On  the  17th  of  January,  1827,  Captain  James  Stirling, 
of  H.M.S.  ''Success,"  left  Sydney,  intending  to  survey 
those  portions  of  the  west  coast  unvisited  by  Lieutenant 
King,  and  also  to  investigate  the  nature  of  the  country  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Swan  Eiver  with  a  view  to 
its  suitability  for  settlement.  Stirling  was  accompanied 
by  Charles  Fraser,  who  had  considerable  experience  as 
adviser  upon  Australian  sites  for  settlement.  Both 
Stirling  and  Fraser  reported  favourably  on  the  Swan 
Eiver;  and  the  latter  waxing  enthusiastic  on  its 
eligibility,  it  was  decided  to  found  a  new  colony  there. 

In  1829,  Captain  Fremantle  of  H.M.S.  ''Challenger," 
hoisted  the  British  flag  at  the  mouth  of  the  Swan  Eiver, 
and  thenceforth  the  whole  of  the  Australian  continent 
was  under  British  sway.  Captain,  now  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  Stirling  arrived  a  month  later  in  the  transport 
"Parmelia,"  and  the  free  colony  of  Western  Australia 
was  launched  on  its  varied  career. 

The  names  first  mentioned  in  the  annals  of  land 
exploration  in  Western  Australia,  are  those  of  Alexander 
Collie  and  Lieutenant  William  Preston,  who  together 
explored  the  country  on  the  coast  between  Cockburn 
Sound  and  Geographe  Bay.  This  was  in  November, 
1829,  and  in  the  following  month  Dr.  J.  B.  Wilson,  who 
came  to  the  Sound  with  Captain  Barker  on  the  aban- 
donment of  Eaffles  Bay,  made  an  excursion  from  the 
Sound  and  discovered  and  named  the  Denmark  Eiver. 

In  a  passage  in  a  letter  written  by  E.  M.  Davis,  of  the 
medical  staff,  to  Charles  Fraser,  the  botanist,  there  is 
a  detailed  reference  to  this  trip: — 

"Dr.  Wilson,  who  came  here  with  Captain  Barker, 
started  in  a  direction  to  Swan  Port  (Swan  Eiver)  with  a 
party  of  men,  and  in  eleven  days  went  over  at  least  two 
hundred  miles  of  ground.  He  says,  without  fear  of 
contradiction  in  future,  that  there  is  far  greater 
proportion  of  good  land  in  this  direction  than  in  any  other 
part  of  Australia  that  he  had  been  in,  and  also  wood  of 
large  growth,  with  innumerable  rivers.  He  ascended  a 
very  high  mountain,  which  he  called  Mount  Lindsay,  in 
honour  of  the  39th  regiment. ' ' 


EOE,    GEEY,    AND    GREGORY  235 

On  the  22nd  of  March,  1830,  we  first  hear  of  the 
exploring  feats  of  Lieutenant  Eoe,  E.N.,  the  Surveyor- 
General  of  the  new  colony.  Captain  John  Septimus  Koe 
was  born  in  1797,  and  entered  the  navy.  He  accompanied 
Captain  P.  King  to  explore  the  north  and  north-west 
coasts  of  Australia,  in  1818,  and  was  a  member  of  King's 
expedition  in  1821.  He  was  the  first  Surveyor-General 
of  Western  Australia,  and  held  that  position  for  forty- 
two  years.  He  is  commonly  styled  the  father  of  western 
exploration.  He  died  at  Perth  on  May  28th,  1878.  Mrs. 
Roe,  who  accompanied  her  husband  to  Western  Australia 
in  1829,  pre-deceased  him  in  1870. 

On  the  date  mentioned  in  1830,  Roe  was  in  the  field 
exploring  in  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Naturaliste.  Afterwards 
he  was  active  in  the  country  between  the  head-waters  of 
the  Kalgan  and  Hay  Rivers.  In  1836,  he  first  tried  serious 
conclusions  with  the  inland  country  of  Western  Australia, 
when  he  headed  an  expedition  to  explore  the  tableland 
that  lies  to  the  north  and  east  of  Perth.  The  country 
was  dreary  and  depressing,  and,  judging  from  its 
configuration  and  natural  properties,  he  was  unable  to 
recommend  it  as  a  site  for  settlement  or  to  depict  it  as 
the  entrance  to  more  pleasant  lands  beyond.  He  reached 
Lake  Brown,  near  the  western  boundary  of  the  present 
Yilgarn  goldfield;  but  the  only  noteworthy  features  that 
he  perceived  were  the  salt  lakes,  that  are  now  so  well- 
known  throughout  Western  Australia.  In  1839,  Roe 
distinguished  himself  by  rescuing  Grey's  dismembered 
party.  On  the  14th  of  September,  1848,  he  started  to 
make  an  attempt  at  further  discovery  to  the  east- 
ward. He  had  with  him  six  men,  twelve  horses,  and  three 
months'  provisions.  Upon  leaving  the  outer  settlements, 
they  encountered  the  same  depressing  country  as  before. 
Having  crossed  it,  they  were  turned  from  their  course 
by  scrub  of  exceeding  density,  which  in  turn  was 
succeeded  by  sandy  desert  plains.  Foiled  for  the  time 
being  they  made  for  the  south  coast,  where  they  recruited 
their  strength  at  one  of  the  outlying  settlements. 


236  EXPLOREKS  OF  AUSTEALIA 

On  the  18th  they  started  again,  and  followed  up  the 
course  of  the  Pallinup  Eiver.  They  ascended  a  branch 
coming  from  the  north-east,  and  for  a  time  revelled  in  the 
spectacle  of  well-grassed  and  promising  valleys;  but  they 
soon  again  came  amongst  the  scrub  and  sand  plains  of 
the  inland  desert.  Sighting  a  granite  range  to  the  east- 
ward, they  made  towards  it,  but  the  outlook  from  its 
summit  brought  nothing  but  exceeding  disappointment. 
Fortunately  the  weather  was  showery,  and  the  lack  of 
water  did  not  induce  such  keen  anxiety  as  the  total 
absence  of  grass.  Still  pushing  to  the  eastward,  they 
found  their  difficulties  increase  at  every  step.  To  the 
perils  of  travel  through  dense  thickets  and  over  barren, 
scorching  plains,  there  was  now  added  the  risk  of  death 
from  thirst.  It  was  not  until  after  days  of  extreme 
privation  that  they  reached  some  elevated  peaks,  where 
they  obtained  a  little  grass  and  water. 

Their  course  lay  now  to  the  soutli-east,  towards  the 
range  sighted  by  Eyre,  and  named  the  Eussell  Eange, 
and  there  commenced  a  desperate  struggle  with  the 
intervening  desert. 

So  weak  were  the  horses  and  so  compact  the  belts  of 
scrub,  that  in  three  days  they  had  traversed  only  fifty 
miles.  After  being  four  days  and  three  nights  without 
water  for  the  horses,  they  reached  a  rugged  hill  which 
they  named  Mount  Riley,  where  they  were  relieved  by  a 
scant  supply.  Thence  it  was  but  fifty  miles  to  the  Russell 
Range,  but  the  journey  involved  a  repetition  of  the  worst 
sufferings  they  had  endured.  The  scrub  disputed  their 
passage  the  whole  route,  being  often  so  dense  as  to  defy 
the  use  of  the  axe,  and  many  long  detours  had  to  be  made 
before  they  reached  their  goal. 

Every  hope  they  had  entertained  of  a  change  for  the 
better  was  shattered  by  an  inspection  of  the  country  to 
which  they  had  so  laboriously  penetrated.  The  range, 
destined  to  be  associated  with  so  many  subsequent 
important  explorations,  was  a  mass  of  naked  rocks,  and 
from  the  summit  they  could  see  nothing  but  the  inter- 
minable scrub  thickets,  and  in  the  distance  the  thin  blue 


ROE,    GREY,    AND    GREGORY 


237 


line  of  ocean.  Fortunately  they  found  a  little  grass  and 
water,  which  saved  the  lives  of  their  animals.  They  had 
discovered  a  coal  seam  at  the  mouth  of  the  Murchison 
Eiver,  and  now,  on  their  return  journey,  they  found 
another  at  the  Fitzgerald  River.  This  was  Roe's  longest 
and  most  important  expedition,  and  it  placed  him  in  the 
front  rank  of  Australian  explorers. 

Amongst  the  very  early  explorers  who  did  as  good 
work  as  the  scanty  opportunities  permitted,  was  Ensign 
R.  Dale,  of  the  63rd  Regiment,  who  pushed  east  of  the 
Darling  Range.  Bannister,  Moore,  and  Bunbury,  are 
other  noteworthy  names  amongst  those  of  the  early 
discoverers, 

(ii.) — Sir  George  Grey. 

In  1837  an  expedition  in  charge  of  Captain  George 
Grey   and   Lieutenant   Lushington   was    sent   out   from 

England  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  It  was  under 
instructions  from  Lord 
Glenelg,  and  was  to  pro- 
cure a  small  vessel  at  the 
Cape  to  convey  the  party 
and  their  stores  to  the 
most  convenient  point  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  Prince 
Regent's  River  on  the 
coast.  Once  landed  there, 
the  party  was  to  take  such 
a  course  as  would  lead 
them  in  the  direction  of 
the  great  opening  behind  Dampier's  Land,  where  they 
were  to  make  every  endeavour  to  cross  to  the  Swan  River. 
The  schooner  ''Lynher"  was  chartered  at  the  Cape,  and 
on  the  3rd  of  December,  1837,  the  party  was  landed  at 
Hanover  Bay,  with  large  quantities  of  live  stock,  stores, 
seeds,  and  plants.  Whilst  the  schooner  proceeded  to 
Timor  for  ponies,  Grey  employed  the  time  in  forming  a 
garden,  building  sheds  for  the  stores,  and  in  exploring  the 


Sir  George  Grey. 


238  EXPLOKEKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

country  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hanover  Bay.  On  the 
9th  of  December,  he  hoisted  the  British  flag  and  went 
through  the  ceremony  of  taking  possession.  On  the  17th 
of  January,  the  ''Lynher"  returned,  and  nearly  a  month 
later  Grey  and  his  party,  which  now  numbered 
twelve,  started  from  the  coast  with  twenty-six  half -broken 
Timor  ponies,  as  baggage-carriers,  and  some  sheep  and 
goats. 

The  rainy  season  had  now  set  in,  and  many  of  the 
stock  succumbed  almost  at  the  outset,  whilst  their  route 
proved  a  veritable  tangle  of  steep  spurs  and  deep 
ravines.  On  the  11th  of  February  they  came  into 
collision  with  the  natives,  and  Grey  was  severely 
wounded  in  the  hip  with  a  spear.  When  he  had  recovered 
sufficiently  to  be  lifted  on  to  one  of  the  ponies,  a  fresh 
start  was  made,  and  on  the  2nd  of  March  his  perseverance 
was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  a  river  which  he  named 
the  Glenelg.  He  followed  the  course  of  this  river 
upwards,  and  reported  the  country  as  good,  being  well- 
grassed  and  watered.  Sometimes  his  route  lay  along  the 
river's  bank;  at  other  times  by  keeping  to  the  foot  of  a 
sandstone  ridge  he  was  enabled  to  avoid  detours  around 
many  wearisome  bends. 

The  party  continued  along  the  Glenelg  for  many  days, 
until  indeed  they  were  checked  by  a  large  tributary 
coming  from  the  north.  As  both  the  river  and  the 
tributary  were  here  much  swollen,  they  had  to  fall  back 
on  the  range.  It  was  among  the  recesses  of  this  range 
that  Grey  discovered  some  curious  cave  paintings  of  the 
blacks,  in  which  the  aboriginal  figures  were  represented 
as  clothed. 

Unable  to  find  a  pass  through  the  mountains,  and 
enfeebled  by  his  wound.  Grey  determined  to  retrace  his 
steps.  As  a  last  resort  he  sent  Lushington  some  distance 
ahead,  but  there  was  no  noticeable  change  to  report  in 
the  aspect  of  the  country.  Hanover  Bay  was  reached  on 
the  15th  of  April.  The  "Lynher"  was  waiting  there  at 
anchor,  and  H.M.S.  ''Beagle"  was  lying  in  Port  George 

•  A  subsequent  photograph  of  these  paintings,  by  Brockman,  is  reproduced  in  Chap.  XX. 


KOE,    GREY,    AND    GREGORY 


239 


the  Fourth,  awaiting  the  return  of  Captain  Stokes,  who 
was  away  exploring  the  coast.  The  party  having 
embarked,  the  "Lynher"  sailed  for  the  Isle  of  France, 
where  they  safely  arrived.  Thus  ended  Captain  Grey's 
first  expedition,  which  is  interesting  chiefly  as  a  proof 
of  the  heroic  qualities  of  its  members;  for  the  Glenelg 
River  has  never  invited  settlement,  and  has  yet  to  prove 
that  it  possesses  any  considerable  economic  value. 

During  January,  1839, 
Grey  explored  the  country 
between  the  Williams  and 
the  Leschenhault,  while 
searching  for  a  settler  who 
had  been  lost  in  the  bush. 

On  the  17th  of  February 
in  the  same  year,  Grey,  who 
had  been  back  endeavouring 
to  persuade  Sir  James 
Stirling  to  assist  him  in  his 
explorations,  was  enabled  to 
start  on  another  exploring 
enterprise.  The  object  of 
this,  his  second  important 
expedition,  was  to  examine 
the  undiscovered  parts  of 
Shark's  Bay,  and  to  make 
excursions  as  far  inland 
as  circumstances  permitted. 
The  party  comprised  four  of  the  members  of  his  first 
expedition,  five  other  men,  and  a  Western  Australian 
aboriginal,  and  they  left  Fremantle  in  an  American 
whaler,  taking  three  whale-boats  with  them.  They  were 
duly  landed  at  Bernier  Island,  where  their  troubles 
commenced  at  once.  The  whaler  sailed  away,  taking  with 
her  by  mistake  the  whole  of  their  supply  of  tobacco. 
There  was  no  water  on  the  island,  and,  in  their  first 
attempt  to  start,  one  of  the  boats  was  smashed  and 
nearly  half-a-ton  of  stores  lost.  The  next  day  they 
succeeded  in  making  Dorre  Island,  but  that  night  both 


Bock  Painting,  N.W.  Australia. 


240  EXPLOREKS  OP  AUSTRALIA 

the  remaining  boats  were  driven  ashore  by  a  violent 
storm.  Two  or  three  days  were  spent  in  making  good  the 
damage,  when  they  succeeded  in  making  the  mainland, 
and  obtained  a  supply  of  fresh  water.  They  had  landed 
at  or  near  the  mouth  of  a  stream  which  afterwards 
proved  to  be  the  second  longest  river  in  Western 
Australia.  Grey  named  it  the  Gascoyne,  and  found  that 
it  was  then  dry  beyond  the  limit  of  tidal  influence.  They 
then  pulled  up  the  coast,  but  one  night,  when  effecting 
a  landing,  both  boats  were  swamped,  and  their  previously- 
damaged  provisions  suffered  another  soaking.  This 
accident  kept  them  prisoners  for  a  week  till  the  wind 
and  surf  had  abated.  Tired,  hungry,  and  ill,  they  were 
here  harassed  by  frequent  threats  and  one  actual  attack 
by  the  blacks.  A  slight  break  in  the  weather  tempted 
them  forth  once  more,  and  having  succeeded  in  righting 
the  boats,  they  made  for  the  mouth  of  the  Gascoyne, 
where  they  re-filled  their  water-beakers.  On  March 
20th  they  made  a  desperate  effort  in  the  teeth  of  foul 
weather  to  fetch  their  depot  on  Bernier  Island.  We  may 
picture  their  dismay  when  they  found  that  during  their 
absence  a  hurricane  had  swept  the  island,  and  scattered 
their  cherished  stores  to  the  four  winds. 

Their  position  was  now  as  desperate  as  could  be 
imagined:  the  southerly  winds  had  set  in,  and  they  had 
to  coast  along  a  surf-beaten  shore  against  a  head  wind. 
Their  food  was  scanty,  and  they  were  weak  with  the 
constant  toils  they  had  undergone.  There  was  nothing 
for  it,  however,  but  to  put  to  sea  again,  and  they 
succeeded  in  reaching  Gantheaume  Bay  on  the  31st  of 
March.  Fate  had  not  yet  spent  all  her  wrath  on  them, 
and  in  attempting  a  landing.  Grey's  boat  was  dashed  to 
destruction  upon  a  rock,  and  the  other  received  such 
a  buffeting  as  to  place  it  beyond  repair.  The  only 
hope  of  safety  lay  in  an  overland  march  to  Perth, 
three  hundred  miles  away,  upon  their  twenty  pounds 
of  damaged  flour  and  one  pound  of  salt  pork  per  man; 
and  yet,  so  wearied  were  they  with  the  unceasing  battle 
against  wind  and  sea,  that  they  even  welcomed  this 
hazardous  prospect  as  a  change  for  the  better. 


BOE,    GKEY,    AND    GEEGOEY  241 

They  had  not  proceeded  far  before  differences  of 
opinion  arose.  Grey  naturally  wished  the  men  to  cover 
the  ground  as  quickly  as  possible  whilst  their  strength 
lasted,  whilst  they  favoured  slow  marches,  relieved 
by  frequent  rests.  Grey,  who  recognised  that  in  their 
weakened  condition  they  could  not  replenish  their 
scanty  food  supplies  from  the  native  game,  held  firmly 
to  his  opinion,  and  made  strenuous  efforts  to  quicken 
their  progress;  but  the  comparative  safety  of  the  shore 
had  lulled  his  followers  into  a  feeling  of  false  security; 
and  after  goading  them  along  for  a  hundred  miles, 
bearing  the  chief  burden  of  the  march  and  sharing  much  of 
his  scanty  food  with  the  black  boy.  Grey  left  them  to  push 
onwards,  and  if  possible  send  them  assistance.  He  took 
two  or  three  picked  men  with  him,  and,  after  terrible 
sufferings  and  privations,  reached  Perth,  whence  a  rescue 
party  was  immediately  despatched.  This  party  found 
only  one  man,  Charles  Wood,  who  by  more  closely 
following  Grey's  instructions,  had  made  better  progress 
than  the  others.  The  remaining  five  could  not  be  found, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  fortnight  the  rescuers  were  forced 
to  return  on  account  of  the  lack  of  provisions.  Eoe 
immediately  left  with  another  party,  and,  after 
experiencing  trouble  in  tracking  the  erratic  wanderings 
of  the  unfortunates,  came  upon  most  of  them  hopelessly 
regarding  a  face  of  rock  that  stopped  their  march  along 
the  beach,  unable  to  muster  sufficient  strength  to  climb 
it.  They  had  then  been  three  days  without  water,  having 
nothing  in  their  canteens  but  a  loathsome  substitute. 

One  of  them,  Smith,  a  lad  of  eighteen  who  had 
accompanied  the  expedition  as  a  volunteer,  had  died  two 
days  before  the  rescue;  his  body  was  recovered  and 
buried  in  the  wilderness.  Walker,  the  surgeon  and  second 
in  charge,  was  still  absent;  but  he  had  voluntarily  left 
the  main  body  and  had  pushed  on  for  assistance  towards 
Fremantle,  which  he  safely  reached. 

During  these  unfortunate  expeditions.  Grey  had 
shown  a  generous  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  combined  with 
high  courage  and  a  fine  enthusiasm  for   geographical 


242  EXPLOKEKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

discovery.  But  his  lack  of  experience  and  his  ignorance 
of  the  local  seasonal  conditions  counterbalanced  these, 
and  explained  his  failures.  Afterwards  he  became  Acting 
Government  Resident  at  Albany,  on  King  George's 
Sound,  and  he  was  at  a  critical  period  Governor  of  South 
Australia.  But  Australia  proper  saw  little  of  him  in  his 
after  prime,  and  his  fame  was  built  up  elsewhere,  in  New 
Zealand  and  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

Grey's  reports  left  doubt  as  to  the  precise  value  of 
the  country  he  traversed  under  such  trying  circumstances, 
but  he  is  justly  credited  with  the  discovery  of  many 
rivers  on  the  west  coast— the  Grey,  the  Buller,  the 
Chapman,  the  Greenough,  the  Arrowsmith,  the  Hutt,  the 
Bowyer,  and  those  important  streams,  the  Murchison  and 
the  Gascoyne. 

(iii.) — Augustus  C.  Gregory. 

In  1846  we  come  upon  a  name  destined  to  become 
linked  with  the  history  of  exploration  in  most  parts  of 
Australia.  There  were  three  notable  brothers  of  the  name 
of  Gregory;  but  as  their  expeditions,  at  least  those  of 
Augustus  and  Frank,  were  conducted  independently,  with 
the  exception  of  the  first,  we  shall  deal  with  them 
separately.  H.  C.  Gregory,  it  is  true,  associated  his  work 
mostly  with  that  of  his  brother,  A.  C.  Gregory,  generally 
in  a  subordinate  position,  but  Frank  Gregory  won  nearly 
equal  fame  with  his  brother  Augustus  as  an  independent 
explorer. 

A.  C.  Gregory  was  the  son  of  Lieutenant  J.  Gregory 
of  the  78th  Highlanders.  He  was  born  at  Farnsfield, 
Nottinghamshire,  in  1819,  and  came  to  Western  Australia 
with  his  parents  in  1829  in  the  ''Lotus,"  500  tons.  Captain 
Summerson,  the  second  passenger  ship  that  sailed  for 
"Western  Australia.  Lieutenant  Gregory  had  five  sons 
in  all:  William,  Augustus,  Francis,  Henry,  and  James. 
The  ''Lotus"  reached  Fremantle  about  the  10th  of 
October,  1829.  Captain  Gregory  had  been  obliged  to 
retire  from  active  service,  being  incapacitated  by  serious 
wounds  received  at  "El  Hamed,"  in  Egypt,  and  held  a 


EOE,    GKEY,    AND    GREGORY 


243 


large  grant  of  land  from  the  Imperial  Government  in 
lieu  of  pension.  On  this  grant,  situated  not  far  from 
Perth,  he  established  a  farm,  and  on  that  farm  Augustus 
and  his  brothers  received  the  balance  of  their  education 
and  underwent  their  course  of  bush  training.  Augustus, 
after  his  last  expedition,  was  appointed  in  1859 
Surveyor-General  of  Queensland,  in  which  colony  he 
settled  down  later,  after  retiring  from  active  official 
life.    He  had  a  seat  in  the  Legislative  Council,  and  was  a 

prominent  freemason.  He 
was  created  C.M.G.  in 
1874, and  K.C.M.G.  in  1903, 
and  had  several  honours 
conferred  upon  him  by  the 
Eoyal  Geographical  So- 
ciety. He  died  in  Brisbane, 
in  1905. 

If  we  except  a  short  ex- 
cursion down  the  Black- 
wood and  Kojonup  Rivers, 
his  expedition  of  1846,  in 
which  he  was  accompanied 
both  by  F.  T.  and  H.  C. 
Gregory,  was  the  first  im- 
portant enterprise  under- 
taken by  him.  It  was  in 
August  that  his  party  left 
Bolgart's  Springs,    about 


Photo,  Freeman,  Sydney. 
Augustus  C.  Gregory,  1880. 


Captain    Scully's    station    at 
seventy  miles  from  Perth. 

On  leaving  the  settled  districts  they  at  once  found 
themselves  in  the  barren  country  that  was  damming  back 
the  eastward  flow  of  settlement.  Having  traversed  it, 
they  reached  a  range  of  granite  hills,  and  turning  more 
to  the  northward,  they  kept  along  these  for  the  sake  of 
the  rain-water  to  be  found  in  the  rock  holes.  On  striking 
again  to  the  east,  they  encountered  an  extensive  salt  lake, 
and  in  attempting  to  cross  an  arm  of  this  marsh,  their 
horses  were  bogged,  and  extricated  only  after  great 
labour.    The  lake  was  afterwards  proved  to  be  of  great 


244  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

size,  and  to  hem  them  in  completely  to  the  eastward, 
whilst,  owing  to  its  crescent-like  formation,  for  five  days 
it  baflfled  all  their  attempts  to  proceed  northwards. 

Finally  abandoning  the  lake,  which  they  called  Lake 
Moore,  they  turned  to  the  westward  to  examine  some  of 
the  streams  crossed  by  Grey  during  his  return  from 
Shark's  Bay.  On  the  head  of  one  of  these  rivers,  the 
Irwin,  they  found  a  seam  of  coal. 

**  Having  pitched  our  tent  and  tethered  our  horses,  we 
commenced  to  collect  specimens  of  the  various  strata,  and 
succeeded  in  cutting  out  five  or  six  hundredweight  of 
coal  with  the  tomahawk,  and  in  a  short  time  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  first  fire  of  West  Australian 
coal  burning  cheerfully  in  front  of  the  camp,  this  being 
the  first  discovery  of  coal  in  Western  Australia." 

The  party  then  returned  by  way  of  the  Moore  River  to 
Bolgart  Springs,  which  they  reached  on  the  22nd  of 
September. 

The  discovery  of  coal  deposits  and  of  country  available 
for  settlement  was  seen  to  be  of  great  importance  by  the 
Government,  and  Lieutenant  Helpman,  A.  C.  Gregory, 
his  brother  Henry,  and  Messrs.  Irby  and  Meekleham,  in 
the  colonial  schooner  "Champion,"  were  despatched  to 
procure  a  quantity  of  coal  for  testing.  They  were  also 
instructed  to  make  a  further  inspection  of  the  pastoral 
capabilities  of  the  district,  of  which  there  had  been  so 
many  conflicting  opinions.  A  three  days'  examination 
of  the  country  convinced  them  that  it  was  suitable  for 
settlement. 

In  1846  Gregory  took  charge  of  an  expedition  to  the 
north  of  Perth,  organised  by  the  settlers  of  the  colony, 
and  entitled  "The  Settlers'  Expedition";  its  object  being 
to  proceed  to  the  Gascoyne  River,  examining  the  inter- 
vening country  as  to  its  suitability  for  pastoral  purposes. 

Gregory  was  accompanied  by  one  of  his  brothers, 
Messrs.  Burges,  Walcott,  and  Bedart,  and  private  King 
of  the  96th  Regiment,  of  whose  services  he  speaks 
very  highly.  This  expedition  excited  great  hopes  amongst 
the  settlers,  who  found  most  of  the  horses  and  provisions. 


ROE,    GREY,    AND    GREGORY  245 

The  party  left  Lefroy's  station  of  Wellbeing  on  the  9th 
of  September,  with  ten  pack,  and  two  riding-horses,  but 
did  not  succeed  in  penetrating  any  distance  beyond  the 
Murchison,  being  turned  back  at  all  points,  after  repeated 
efforts,  by  the  belt  of  impervious  scrub  between  the 
Murchison  and  Gascojme.  They  therefore  returned 
without  seeing  the  latter  river,  after  having  attained  a 
distance  of  350  miles  from  Perth;  but  they  succeeded  in 
finding  a  considerable  extent  of  available  country,  both 
pastoral  and  agricultural,  and  in  discovering  a  vein  of 
galena  on  the  Murchison.  They  re-entered  Perth  on  the 
17th  of  November. 

The  following  month,  Gregory,  Bland,  and  three 
soldiers  of  the  96th,  accompanied  Governor  Fitzgerald 
by  sea  to  Champion  Bay  to  examine  the  new  mineral 
discoveries.  The  galena  lode  was  found  to  be  more 
important  than  had  been  at  first  supposed.  On  their 
return  to  the  schooner,  an  affray  occurred  with  the 
natives,  in  which  the  Governor  was  wounded. 

"As  the  country  was  covered  with  dense  wattle 
thickets,  the  natives  took  advantage  of  the  ground,  and 
having  completely  surrounded  the  party,  commenced 
first  to  threaten  to  throw  their  spears,  then  to  throw 
stones,  and  finally  one  man  caught  hold  of  Mr.  Bland  by 
the  arm,  threatening  to  strike  him  with  a  dowak ;  another 
native  threw  a  spear  at  myself,  though  without  effect; 
but  before  I  could  fire  at  him,  the  Governor,  perceiving 
that  unless  sqme  severe  example  was  made,  the  whole 
party  would  be  cut  off,  fired  at  one  of  the  most  forward 
of  our  assailants  and  killed  him;  two  other  shots  were 
fired  by  the  soldiers,  but  the  thickness  of  the  bushes 
prevented  our  seeing  with  what  effect.  A  shower  of 
spears,  stones,  kylies  and  dowaks  followed,  and  although 
we  moved  to  a  more  open  spot,  the  natives  were  only 
kept  off  by  firing  at  any  that  exposed  themselves.  At 
this  moment  a  spear  struck  the  Governor  in  the  leg,  just 
above  the  knee,  with  such  force  as  to  cause  it  to  protrude 
two  feet  on  the  other  side,  which  was  so  far  fortunate 
as  to  enable  me  to  break  off  the  barb  and  withdraw  the 


246  EXPLOKEKS  OF  AUSTKALIA 

shaft.  The  Governor,  notwithstanding  his  wound, 
continued  to  direct  the  party,  and  although  the  natives 
made  many  attempts  to  approach  close  enough  to  reach 
us  with  their  spears,  we  were  able  by  keeping  on  the 
most  open  ground  and  checking  them  by  an  occasional 
shot,  to  avoid  their  attacks  when  crossing  the  gullies." 

The  natives  followed  them  for  seven  miles,  but  finally 
desisted,  and  the  whites  reached  the  beach  and  boarded 
the  ''Champion"  without  further  mishap. 

In  1856  Gregory  made  his  most  celebrated  journey  in 
the  north  of  central  Australia.  An  account  of  this  journey 
might  have  been  included  in  Part  II.,  but  as  the  name  of 
Gregory  is  so  intimately  connected  with  Western 
Australia,  this  section  is  perhaps  the  most  appropriate 
place  in  which  to  recount  its  incidents.  But  its  lengthy 
place  in  which  to  recount  its  incidents.  But  its 
numerous  details  demand  another  chapter. 


Chaptek  XVIII. 
A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  GREGOEY. 


(i.) — A.  C.  Geegoey  on  Stuet's  Ceeek  and  the  Baecoo. 

The  Imperial  Government  having  long  considered  the 
feasibility  of  further  exploration  of  the  interior  of 
Australia,  voted  £5000  for  the  purpose,  and  offered  the 
command  of  the  expedition  to  A.  C.  Gregory.  As  the 
inexplicable  disappearance  of  Leichhardt  was  then 
exciting  much  interest  in  Australia,  search  for  the  lost 
expedition  was  to  form  one  of  its  chief  duties. 

On  the  12th  of  August,  1855,  Gregory's  party  left 
Moreton  Bay  in  the  barque  ' '  Monarch, ' '  attended  by  the 
schooner  ''Tom  Tough."  There  were  eighteen  men  in 
all.  H.  C.  Gregory  was  second  in  command,  Ferdinand 
von  Mueller  was  botanist,  J.  S.  Wilson  geologist,  J.  E. 
Elsey  surgeon  and  naturalist,  and  J.  Baines  artist  and 
storekeeper.  They  had  on  board  fifty  horses,  two  hundred 
sheep,  and  provisions  and  stores  calculated  to  last  them 
eighteen  months  on  full  rations. 

They  did  not  reach  Point  Pearce,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Victoria  Eiver,  until  the  24th  of  September.  There  they 
separated,  the  schooner  taking  the  stores  up  the  river, 
and  the  "Monarch"  proceeding  on  her  voyage  to 
Singapore.  The  horses  had  been  landed  at  Point  Pearce, 
whence  Gregory,  his  brother,  and  seven  men  took  them 
on  overland  by  easy  stages.  One  night  the  horses  were 
attacked  by  crocodiles,  and  three  of  them  were  severely 
wounded.  They  followed  up  the  course  of  the  Fitzmaurice 
Eiver  and  then  passed  over  rough  country,  not  reaching 
the  Victoria  until  the  17th.  On  the  20tli  they  rejoined 
the  members  who  had  gone  round  by  the  schooner,  and 
learned  that  she  was  aground  in  the  river.  A  large  part 
of  their  stores  was  spoiled;  and  the  number  of  the  sheep 
had  also  been  reduced  to  forty,  in  consequence  of  their 


248  EXPLOEERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

being  foolishly  kept  penned  up  on  board.  These  losses 
and  accidents  considerably  weakened  Gregory's 
resources,  and  it  was  not  until  the  24th  of  November  that 
any  excursion  on  horseback  was  undertaken.  An  attempt 
had  previously  been  made  to  ascend  the  river  in  the 
portable  boat  with  which  the  expedition  had  been  supplied, 
but  it  was  not  successful,  as  the  boat  could  not  navigate 
the  rocky  bars  in  safety. 

Gregory  left  camp  accompanied  by  his  brother,  Dr. 
von  Mueller,  and  Wilson,  taking  seven  horses  and  twenty 
days'  rations,  his  object  being  to  examine  the  country 
through  which  the  exploring  party  would  have  to  travel 
on  their  route  to  the  interior.  On  this  preliminary  trip, 
he  penetrated  as  far  as  latitude  16i/^  south,  whence, 
finding  the  tributaries  flowing  from  fine  open  plains  and 
level  forest  country,  all  well-grassed,  he  returned  to  the 
main  camp. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  1856,  Gregory  started  with  a 
much  larger  party  on  an  energetic  dash  into  the  interior. 
He  had  with  him  six  men  besides  his  brother.  Dr.  von 
Mueller  and  Baines  the  artist,  and  thirty-six  horses.  He 
retraced  his  steps  along  his  preliminary  route,  and  on 
the  30th  of  January,  thinking  it  wise  judging  from  the 
rapid  evaporation  of  the  waterholes,  to  make  his  means 
of  retreat  secure,  he  formed  a  temporary  camp,  leaving 
there  four  men  and  all  the  horses  but  eleven  to  await 
his  return,  whilst  he,  his  brother,  Dr.  Mueller,  and  a  man 
named  Dean,  rode  ahead  to  challenge  the  desert  to  the 
south.  On  the  9th  of  February,  having  run  the  Victoria 
out,  he  crossed  an  almost  level  watershed,  and  found  him- 
self on  the  confines  of  the  desert.  From  a  slight  rise  he 
looked  southwards: — 

^ '  The  horizon  was  unbroken ;  all  appeared  one  slightly 
undulating  plain,  with  just  sufficient  triodia  and  bushes 
growing  on  it  to  hide  the  red  sand  when  viewed  at  a 
distance. ' ' 

Gregory  reviewed  the  problem  from  a  logical  stand- 
point.    He  decided  to  follow  the  northern  limit  of  the 


A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  GKEGORY  249 

desert  to  tlie  westward,  nntil  he  should  find  a  southern- 
flowing  watercourse  which  would  afford  him  the 
opportunity  to  make  a  dash  beyond  its  confines. 

On  the  15th  of  February  he  came  to  a  small  flat  which 
gradually  developed  into  a  channel  and  ultimately  became 
a  creek,  running  first  west,  and  then  south-west.  This 
gave  him  his  desired  opening,  and  he  pursued  the  course 
of  the  creek  through  good  open  coimtry,  finding  the  water 
plentiful,  though  shallow.  On  February  20th,  however, 
the  channel  of  the  creek  was  lost  in  an  immense  grassy 
plain.  The  country  to  the  south  being  sandy  and 
unpromising,  Gregory  kept  westwards,  and  succeeded 
in  again  picking  up  the  channel,  now  finding  the  water  in 
it  to  be  slightly  brackish.  That  day  he  crossed  the 
boundary  of  Western  Australia.  The  creek  now  gave 
promise  of  continuity,  the  water-holes  taking  on  a  more 
permanent  appearance.  It  was  now  pursuing  a  general 
south-west  course,  and  Gregory,  though  still  rightly 
anticipating  that  it  would  eventually  be  lost  in  the  dry 
interior,  determined  to  follow  it  as  far  south  as  should 
be  compatible  with  safety.  He  named  the  creek  Sturt's 
Creek,  after  the  gallant  explorer  of  that  name,  who  was 
naturally  then  often  in  his  mind.  The  creek  maintained 
its  southern  course,  until,  on  the  8th  of  March,  it  ran  out 
into  a  mud  plain  and  a  salt  lake. 

''Thus,  after  having  followed  Sturt's  Creek  for  nearly 
300  miles,  we  have  been  disappointed  in  our  hope  that 
it  would  lead  to  some  important  outlet  to  the  waters  of 
the  Australian  interior;  it  has,  however,  enabled  us  to 
penetrate  far  into  the  level  tract  of  country  which  may  be 
termed  the  Great  Australian  Desert." 

Gregory,  convinced  that  no  useful  results  could  arise 
from  any  attempt  to  penetrate  the  inhospitable  region  to 
the  south,  determined  to  return  before  the  rapidly- 
evaporating  water  on  which  they  were  dependent  should 
vanish  and  cut  off  all  retreat.  He  therefore  retraced  his 
steps  up  Sturt's  Creek,  and  on  the  28th  of  March  arrived 
at  his  temporary  depot,  where  he  found  the  men  all  well 
and  the  horses  much  improved  in  condition. 


250  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

On  the  2nd  of  April,  A.  C.  Gregory,  taking  his  brother 
Henry,  Baines,  and  one  man,  started  on  an  excursion  to 
examine  the  eastern  tributaries  of  the  Victoria,  and  was 
absent  a  little  over  a  fortnight.  On  their  return,  the 
whole  of  the  members  started  for  the  landing-place  on 
the  Victoria,  which  they  reached  on  the  9th  of  May. 
After  all  arrangemeiits  and  preparations  had  been 
completed,  Gregory,  with  most  of  the  party,  started  on 
the  return  journey  overland  to  Moreton  Bay.  The  ''Tom 
Tough,"  now  caulked  and  repaired,  was  to  make  her  way 
to  the  Albert  River  in  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  where  they 
would  again  probably  meet. 

Traversing  the  tributaries  of  the  Victoria  on  his  home- 
ward way,  Gregory  met  with  no  remarkable  incident 
until  his  arrival  on  the  Elsey,  a  tributary  of  the  Roper 
River,  which  he  named  after  the  surgeon  of  the 
expedition.  It  was  here  that  he  came  upon  the  last 
authentic  trace  of  Leichhardt.  He  describes  his  discovery 
as  follows: — 

''There  was  also  the  remains  of  a  hut  and  the  ashes 
of  a  large  fire,  indicating  that  there  had  been  a  party 
camped  there  for  several  weeks;  several  trees  from  six 
to  eight  inches  in  diameter  had  been  cut  down  with  iron 
axes  in  fair  condition,  and  the  hut  built  by  cutting  notches 
in  standing  trees  and  resting  a  large  pole  therein  for  a 
ridge;  this  hut  had  been  burnt  apparently  by  the 
subsequent  bush  fires,  and  only  some  pieces  of  the  thickest 
timber  remained  unconsumed.  Search  was  made  for 
marked  trees,  but  none  found,  nor  were  there  any 
fragments  of  leather,  iron,  or  other  equipment  of  an 
exploring  party,  or  of  any  bones  of  animals  other  than 
those  common  to  Australia.  Had  an  exploring  party 
been  destroyed  here,  there  would  most  likely  have  been 
some  indications,  and  it  may  therefore  be  inferred  that 
the  party  proceeded  on  its  journey.  It  could  not  have 
been  a  camp  of  Leichhardt 's  in  1845,  as  it  is  100  miles 
south  of  his  route  to  Port  Essington;  and  it  was  only 
six  or  seven  years  old,  judging  by  the  growth  of  the  trees ; 
having  subsequently  seen  some  of  Leichhardt 's  camps  on 


A.  C.  AND  F.  T,  GKEGOEY  251 

the  Burdekin,  Mackenzie  and  Barcoo  Elvers,  a  great 
similarity  was  observed  in  regard  to  the  manner  of 
building  the  hut  and  its  relative  position  with  regard  to 
the  fire  and  water  supply,  and  the  position  in  regard  to 
the  great  features  of  the  country  was  exactly  where  a 
party  going  westward  would  first  receive  a  check  from 
the  waterless  tableland  between  the  Roper  and  Victoria 
Rivers,  and  would  probably  camp  and  reconnoitre  ahead 
before  attempting  to  cross  to  the  north-west  coast." 

From  the  Roper  the  party  travelled  around  the  shore 
of  the  Gulf,  keeping  rather  more  inland  than  Leichhardt 
had  done.  On  reaching  the  Albert  they  found  that  the 
^'Tom  Tough"  had  not  yet  arrived  at  the  rendezvous; 
and  Gregory,  leaving  a  marked  tree  with  a  message 
indicating  the  situation  of  some  instructions  he  had 
buried,  pushed  onwards. 

His  route  from  the  Albert  lay  along  much  the  same 
line  of  country  as  that  followed  by  Leichhardt  during  his 
journey  to  Port  Essington.  He  did  not,  however,  make 
such  a  wide  sweep  to  the  north,  up  to  the  Mitchell,  but 
struck  away  from  Carpentaria  at  the  Gilbert  River.  He 
corrected  the  error  Leichhardt  had  fallen  into  over  the 
situation  of  the  Albert,  and  re-named  the  river  that  he 
had  mistaken  the  Leichhardt.  The  exploring  party 
reached  the  settled  districts  at  Hay's  station,  Rannes, 
south  of  the  Fitzroy;  and  thence  reached  Brisbane  on 
the  16th  of  December,  1856. 

To  advance  the  search  after  Leichhardt,  the  interest 
in  whose  fate  had  been  stimulated  by  the  discovery  made 
by  Gregory,  a  public  meeting  was  held  in  September, 
1857,  at  which  resolutions  were  passed  requesting 
monetary  assistance  from  the  Government,  and  offering 
the  leadership  of  a  new  expedition  to  A.  C.  Gregory.  The 
appeal  was  successful,  and  accordingly  in  March,  1858, 
Gregory  left  Euroomba  station  on  the  Dawson  with  a 
party  of  nine  in  all,  one  of  his  brothers  going  as  second. 
The  expedition  was  equipped  for  light  travelling,  taking 
as  means  of  carriage  pack-horses  only,  of  which  there 
were  thirty-one,  as  well  as  nine  saddle-horses. 


252  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Gregory  crossed  the  Nive  on  to  the  Barcoo,  which  he 
proceeded  to  run  down,  finding  the  country  in  a  very 
different  condition  from  that  in  which  it  bloomed  when 
Mitchell  rode  rejoicingly  along  what  he  thought  was  a 
Gulf  river.  A  sharp  look  out  was  of  course  kept  for  any 
trace  of  the  missing  party,  and  on  the  21st  of  April  they 
came  across  another  marked  tree. 

''We  discovered  a  Moreton  Bay  ash  (Eucalyptus  sp.), 
about  two  feet  in  diameter,  marked  with  the  letter  L  on 
the  east  side,  cut  through  the  bark  about  four  feet  from 
the  ground,  and  near  it  the  stumps  of  some  small  trees 
that  had  been  cut  with  a  sharp  axe,  also  a  deep  notch 
cut  in  the  side  of  a  sloping  tree,  apparently  to  support 
the  ridge-pole  of  a  tent,  or  some  similar  purpose;  all 
indicating  that  a  camp  had  been  established  here  by 
Leichhardt's  party.  .  .  No  other  indications  having 
been  found,  we  continued  the  search  down  the  river, 
examining  every  likely  spot  for  marked  trees,  but  without 
success." 

Approaching  the  Thomson  Eiver,  they  found  the 
country  suffering  from  drought  although  the  river  was 
running  in  consequence  of  some  late  rains.  As  winter 
was  now  approaching,  there  was  however  no  spring  in 
the  vegetation,  and  their  horses  were  suifering  great 
hardship.  On  the  15th  of  May  they  found  themselves 
beyond  the  rainfall,  and  realised  that  lack  of  water  was 
likely  to  be  added  to  an  absence  of  grass. 

"We,  however,  succeeded  in  reaching  latitude  23 
degrees  47  minutes,  when  the  absence  of  water  and 
grass — the  rain  not  having  extended  so  far  north,  and 
the  channels  of  the  river  separating  into  small  gullies 
and  spreading  on  to  the  wide  plains — precluded  our 
progressing  further  to  the  north  or  west;  and  the  only 
chance  of  saving  our  horses  was  to  return  south  as  quickly 
as  possible.  This  was  a  most  severe  disappointment, 
as  we  had  just  reached  that  part  of  the  country  through 
which  Leichhardt  most  probably  travelled  if  the  season 
was  sufficiently  wet  to  render  it  practicable.  Thus 
compelled    to    abandon    the    principal    object    of    the 


A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  GREGORY  253 

expedition,  only  two  courses  remained  open — either  to 
return  to  the  head  of  the  Victoria  (Barcoo)  Eiver  and 
attempt  a  northern  course  by  the  valley  of  the  Belyando, 
or  to  follow  down  the  river  and  ascertain  whether  it 
flowed  into  Cooper's  Creek  or  the  Darling." 

The  latter  alternative  was  chosen,  and  they  proceeded 
to  retrace  their  steps  down  the  Thomson,  and  on  reaching 
the  junction  of  the  Barcoo  they  continued  south  and  west 
In  fact,  following  Kennedy's  route,  they  soon  found  them- 
selves involved  in  the  same  difficulties  that  had  beset 
that  explorer.  The  river — now  Cooper's  Creek — ^broke 
up  into  countless  channels  running  through  barren, 
fissured  plains.  Toiling  on  through  these,  varied  by  an 
interlude  of  sandhills,  Gregory  at  last  reached  a  better- 
grassed  land,  where  his  famished  horses  regained  a  little 
strength.  He  reached  Sturt's  furthest  point,  and 
continued  on  to  the  point  where  Strzelecki's  Creek  carried 
off  some  of  the  surplus  flood  waters,  and  finally  lost  the 
many  channels  amongst  the  sandhills  and  flooded  plains. 
He  again  struck  Strzelecki's  Creek  and  traced  it  as  he 
then  thought,  into  Lake  Torrens,  but  in  reality  into  Lake 
Blanche,  for  the  salt  lake  region  had  not  then  been 
properly  delimited.  He  reached  Baker 's  recently-formed 
station,  eight  miles  beyond  Mount  Hopeless,  and  thence 
he  went  on  to  Adelaide. 

(ii.) — Frank  T.  Gregory. 

It  was  in.  Western  Australia,  in  March,  1857,  that 
Frank  T.  Gregory  commenced  his  career  as  an 
independent  explorer  by  taking  advantage  of  a  sudden 
heavy  downpour  of  rain  on  the  upper  reaches  of  the 
Murchison  River,  which  flooded  the  dry  course  of  the 
lower  portion  where  he  was  then  engaged  on  survey  work. 
Gregory  at  once  seized  the  opportunity  thus  afforded 
of  examining  the  upper  reaches  of  this  river,  from  which 
former  explorers  had  been  driven  back  by  the  aridity 
of  the  country.  Accompanied  by  his  assistant,  S.  Trigg, 
he  proceeded  up  the  river  finding,  thanks  to  the  wet 
season  that  had  preceded  him,  luxuriant  grass  and  ample 


254 


EXPLOEERS   OF   AUSTRALIA 


supplies  of  water.  In  consequence,  he  had  a  more 
pleasing  account  of  the  country  to  bring  back  than  the 
report  based  on  the  thirsty  experiences  of  Austin.  So 
easy  did  he  find  the  country,  that  only  scarcity  of 
provisions  prevented  him  from  pushing  on  to  the  long- 
sought-for  Gascoyne  Eiver.  As  it  was,  he  returned  after 
an  absence  of  thirteen  days,  having  completed  what  the 
"Perth  Gazette"  of  that  time  justly  described  as  ''one 

of  the  most  unassuming  ex- 
peditions, yet  important  in 
its  results." 

It  was  so  far  satisfactory, 
.  and  roused  such  fresh  hopes 
in  the  minds  of  the  settlers, 
that  they  once  more  formed 
bright  hopes  of  what  the 
Eiver  Gascoyne  might  have 
in  store  for  the  successful 
explorer.  For  a  long  time 
now  they  had  become  re- 
signed to  the  conclusion  that 
their  northern  pathway  was 
barred  by  a  dry,  scrubby 
country ;  but  they  at  once  took  advantage  of  the  promising 
practical  passage  along  which  Frank  Gregory  had  led 
the  way.  Another  expedition  was  organised  to  penetrate 
to  the  Gascoyne,  and  the  leadership  being  naturally 
offered  to  Frank  Gregory,  was  accepted  by  him. 

On  the  16th  of  April,  1858,  he  left  the  Geraldine  mine 
with  a  lightly-equipped  party  of  six,  including  J.  B.  Eoe, 
son  of  the  Surveyor- General.  They  had  with  them  six 
pack  and  six  riding-horses,  and  rations  for  60  days. 

They  proceeded  up  the  Murchison,  and  on  the  25th  of 
the  same  month  they  reached  a  tributary  called  the 
Impey,  which  had  been  the  highest  point  reached  by 
Gregory  the  preceding  year.  This  time,  however,  the 
party  did  not  find  such  ample  pasture  as  he  had  described. 
Still  following  the  river  up  until  the  30th  April,  on  that 
day  they   struck  off   on   a  nor '-north-east   course,   the 


Frank  T.  Gregory. 


A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  GREGOEY  255 

course  of  the  MurcMson  tending  too  much  in  an  easterly- 
direction  to  lead  them  speedily  on  to  the  Gascoyne.  On 
the  3rd  they  reached  a  gentle  stony  ascent,  which  proved 
to  be  the  watershed  between  the  two  rivers.  Descending 
the  slope  to  the  northward,  they  soon  came  to  the  head 
of  a  watercourse  flowing  northwards.  They  followed  the 
new  creek,  and  on  the  6th  of  May  came  to  a  river 
joining  it  from  the  eastward,  which  at  last  proved  to  be 
the  Gascoyne. 

Gregory  kept  down  the  south  bank  of  the  Gascoyne, 
and  on  the  12th  of  May  passed  a  large  tributary  coming 
from  the  north,  which  he  named  the  Lyons.  On  the.  17th 
they  ascended  a  sandy  ridge  about  sixty  feet  in  height, 
and  had  a  view  of  Shark's  Bay. 

He  returned  along  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  and 
having  reached  the  Lyons,  followed  that  river  up.  On 
the  3rd  of  June  he  ascended  the  highest  mountain  yet 
discovered  in  Western  Australia,  which  he  named  Mount 
Augustus,  after  his  brother.  Gregory  gives  the  elevation 
at  3,480  feet,  but  Mount  Bruce  in  the  Hammersley  Range, 
to  the  north  of  it,  has  since  been  found  to  be  higher.* 
From  the  summit,  however,  he  had  an  extensive  view,  and 
was  enabled  to  sketch  in  the  courses  of  the  various  rivers 
for  over  twenty  miles. 

As  they  had  now  been  out  51  days,  and  their  supply  of 
provisions  was  approaching  the  end,  the  party  turned  back 
at  Mount  Augustus,  and  struck  southwards.  On  the  8th 
the  Gascoyn^  was  re-crossed  at  a  place  where  its  course 
lay  through  flats  and  ana-branches.  On  the  10th  of  June 
they  again  came  to  the  Murchison,  and  followed  it  down 
to  the  Geraldine  mine,  and  finally  reached  Perth  on  the 
10th  of  July.  This  expedition,  so  fruitful  in  its  results 
to  the  pastoral  welfare  of  the  colony,  cost  the  settlers 
only  their  contributions  in  horses  and  rations,  and  a  cash 
expenditure  of  forty  pounds. 

The  discovery  of  so  much  fresh  available  country  on 
the  Gascoyne  River,  with  the  prospect  of  a  new  base  for 
exploration  in  the  tropical  regions  beyond,  attracted  the 

*  3,800  feet. 


256  EXPLOKERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

attention  of  English  capitalists.  The  American  civil  war 
had  so  depressed  the  cotton  trade  that  those  interested 
in  cotton  manufacture  were  seeking  for  fresh  fields  in 
which  to  establish  the  growth  of  the  plant.  Frank  Gregory 
was  then  in  London,  and  advantage  was  taken  of  his 
presence  to  urge  upon  the  Home  Government  and  the 
Eoyal  Geographical  Society  the  desirability  of  fitting  out 
an  expedition  to  proceed  direct  to  the  north-west  coast 
of  Australia,  accompanied  by  a  large  body  of  Asiatic 
labourers,  and  all  the  necessary  appliances  for  the 
establishment  of  a  colony. 

Fortunately  this  rash  and  ill-considered  scheme  was 
greatly  modified  under  wise  advice.  Roe,  the  Surveyor- 
General  of  Western  Australia,  and  other  gentlemen 
practically  acquainted  with  the  subject,  suggested  that 
the  country  should  be  explored  before  the  idea  of  any 
actual  settlement  should  be  entertained.  Acting  on  this 
advice,  the  Imperial  Government  gave  a  grant  of  £2,000, 
to  be  supplemented  by  an  equal  subsidy  by  the  Colonial 
Treasury. 

Gregory  therefore  obtained  a  suitable  outfit  in  London 
for  the  party,  and  left  for  Perth  to  complete  the  necessary 
details.  The  usual  official  delays  occurred,  and  the 
expedition  did  not  leave  Fremantle,  in  the  barque 
'' Dolphin,"  until  23rd  April,  1861,  nearly  two  months 
later  than  had  been  arranged.  As  the  rainy  season  in 
northern  Australia  terminates  in  March,  this  delay  was 
unfortunate-. 

Nickol  Bay  on  the  north-west  coast  was  the  destination, 
and  was  safely  reached.  The  work  of  disembarkation 
being  completed,  the  exploring  party  started  on  the  25th 
of  May,  1861. 

Gregory  first  pursued  a  western  course,  as  he  wished 
to  cut  any  considerable  river  discharging  into  the  sea, 
and  coming  from  the  interior. 

On  the  29th  of  May  they  struck  the  river  which  was 
subsequently  named  the  Fortescue.  As  this  river  seemed 
likely  to  answer  their  expectations  of  a  passage  through 
the  broken  range  that  hemmed  them  in  to  the  south, 


A.  C.  AND  F,  T.  GREGORY  257- 

they  followed  it  up.  A  narrow  precipitous  gorge  forced 
them  to  leave  the  river,  and,  after  surmounting  a  table- 
land, they  steered  a  course  due  south  to  a  high  range, 
which,  however,  they  found  too  rough  to  surmount. 
Making  back  on  to  a  north-east  course,  they  again  struck 
the  Fortescue,  above  the  narrow  glen  which  had  stopped 
them.  They  followed  it  up  once  more  through  good 
country,  occasionally  hampered  by  its  course  lying 
between  rugged  hills;  but  they  finally  crossed  the  range, 
partly  by  the  aid  of  the  river-bed,  and  partly  through  a 
gap.  On  the  18th  June,  they  succeeded  in  completely 
surmounting  the  range,  and  found  that  to  the  south  the 
decline  was  more  gradual.  The  range  was  named  the 
Hammersley  Range.  Their  horses  had  suffered 
considerabl}'^,  and  had  lost  some  of  their  shoes  in  the 
rough  hills.  From  here  they  kept  south  meaning  to  strike 
the  Lyons  River,  discovered  by  Frank  Gregory  during  his 
last  trip.  On  coming  to  a  small  tributary  which  he  named 
the  Hardey,  he  formed  a  depot  camp.  Leaving  some  of 
the  party  and  the  most  sore-footed  of  the  horses,  he 
pushed  on  with  three  men.  Brown,  Harding,  and 
Brockman,  taking  three  packhorses  and  provisions  for 
eight  days. 

On  the  23rd  of  June  they  came  on  a  large  western- 
flowing  river,  which  he  called  the  Ashburton,  and  which  has 
since  proved  to  be  the  longest  river  in  Western  Australia. 
Having  crossed  this  river,  and  still  pursuing  a  southerly 
course,  he  arrived  at  a  sandstone  tableland,  and  on  the 
23rd  had,  as  'Gregory  writes,  ' '  at  last  the  satisfaction  of 
observing  the  bold  outlines  of  Mount  Augustus. ' ' 

He  returned  to  the  depot  camp  on  the  29th,  and  though 
anxious  to  follow  up  the  Ashburton  to  the  east,  the 
condition  of  his  horses 's  feet  and  the  lack  of  shoes 
prevented  him.  During  the  return  journey  to  Nickol 
Bay,  he  ascended  Mount  Samson,  and  from  the  summit 
obtained  an  extensive  view  that  embraced  every 
prominent  peak  within  seventy  miles,  including  Mount 
Bruce  to  the  north,  and  Mount  Augustus  to  the  south, 
the   distance   between   these   two   elevations   being   124 


258  EXPLOEEKS  OF  AUSTEALIA 

geographical  miles.  They  crossed  the  Hammersley 
Range  on  to  the  level  plains  of  the  Fortescue  by  means 
of  a  far  easier  pass  than  that  used  on  the  outward 
journey,  and  arrived  at  the  Bay  on  the  19th  of  July. 

On  the  31st  of  July  Gregory  started  on  a  new 
expedition  to  the  east.  On  the  9th  of  August  he  came  to 
a  river  which  apparently  headed  from  the  direction  they 
desired  to  explore — namely  the  south-east.  Crossing 
another  river,  which  they  named  the  Shaw,  the  explorers, 
still  keeping  east  and  south  of  east,  found,  on  the  27th 
of  August,  a  river  of  some  importance  running  through 
a  large  extent  of  good  pastoral  and  agricultural  land. 
This  river  was  named  the  De  Grey,  but  as  their  present 
object  was  to  push  to  the  south-east,  they  left  its 
promising  banks  and  proceeded  into  a  hilly  country 
where  they  soon  became  involved  in  deep  ravines.  After 
surmounting  a  rugged  tableland,  they  camped  that  night 
at  some  springs. 

The  next  night,  the  29th  of  August,  they  came,  some 
time  after  dark,  on  to  the  bank  of  a  wide  river  lined 
with  the  magnificent  weeping  tea-trees.  As  three  of  the 
horses  were  tired  out,  Gregory  determind  to  follow  this 
river  up  for  a  day  or  two,  instead  of  closing  with  a  range 
of  granite  hills,  capped  with  horizontal  sandstones,  which 
loomed  threateningly  in  their  path. 

So  for  two  or  three  days  they  continued  on  the  Oakover^ 
as  he  christened  the  river,  and  followed  its  western 
branch;  a  tributary  of  that  led  them  in  amongst  the 
ranges,  whch  were  threaded  by  an  easy  pass.  On  the  2nd 
of  September  they  got  through  the  ranges  and  emerged 
upon  open  sandy  plains  of  great  extent,  with  nothing 
visible  across  the  vast  expanse  but  low  ridges  of  red 
drift-sand.  Here  it  was  Gregory's  lot  to  experience  a  test 
almost  equal  to  one  of  the  grim  tramps  that  had  tried 
Sturt  and  Eyre. 

He  camped  at  a  native  deserted  camp,  and  the  next 
day  failing  to  find  any  water  ahead,  had  to  return  and 
form  a  depot.  Here  he  left  five  of  the  party  with 
instructions  to  remain  three  days  and  then  fall  back 


A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  GREGORY  259 

upon  the  Oakover.    He  himself,  with  Brown  and  Harding, 
and  six  horses,  went  on  to  find  a  passage. 

So  far  he  had  encountered  fewer  obstacles,  and  made 
more  encouraging  discoveries  than  had  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  any  other  Western  Australian  explorer;  but  he  was 
now  confronted  with  the  stern  presence  that  had  daunted 
the  bravest  and  best  in  Australia.  In  front  of  him  lay 
barren  plains,  hills  of  drifted  sand,  and  the  ominous  red 
haze  of  the  desert.  Let  Gregory  describe  the  scene  in 
his  own  words,  as  the  locality  has  become  historic : — 

The  three  men  started  on  the  6th  of  September, 
''steering  south-south-east  along  the  ranges,  looking  for 
some  stream-bed  that  might  lead  us  through  the  plains, 
but  I  was  disappointed  to  find  that  they  were  all  lost  in  the 
first  mile  after  leaving  the  hills,  and  as  crossing  the 
numerous  ridges  of  sand  proved  very  fatiguing  to  the 
horses,  we  determined  once  more  to  attempt  to  strike 
to  the  eastward  between  the  ridges,  which  we  did  for 
fifteen  miles,  when  our  horses  again  showed  signs  of 
failing  us,  which  left  us  the  only  alternative  of  either 
pushing  on  at  all  hazards  to  a  distant  range  that  was 
just  visible  to  the  eastward,  where,  from  the  numerous 
native  fires  and  general  depression  of  the  country,  there 
was  every  reason  to  think  a  large  river  would  be  found 
to  exist,  or  to  make  for  some  deep  rocky  gorges  in  the 
granite  hills  ten  miles  to  the  south,  in  which  there  was 
every  prospect  of  finding  water.  In  the  former  case  the 
travelling  would  be  smoothest,  but  the  distance  so  great 
that,  in  the  event  of  our  failing  to  find  water,  we  probably 
should  not  succeed  in  bringing  back  one  of  our  horses; 
while  in  the  latter  we  should  have  to  climb  over  the  sand- 
ridges  which  we  had  already  found  so  fatiguing;  this 
course,  however,  involved  the  least  amount  of  risk,  and 
we  accordingly  struck  south  four  miles  and  halted  for  the 
night. 

''7th  September.  The  horses  did  not  look  much 
refreshed  by  the  night's  rest;  we,  however,  divided  three 
gallons  of  water  amongst  them,  and  started  off  early,  in 
the  hope  of  reaching  the  ranges  by  noon,  but  we  had  not 


260  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

gone  three  miles  when  one  of  the  pack-horses  that  was 
carrying  less  than  forty  pounds  weight  began  to  fail, 
and  the  load  was  placed  on  my  saddle-horse;  it  did  not, 
however,  enable  him  to  get  on  more  than  a  couple  of  miles 
further,  when  we  were  compelled  to  abandon  him,  leaving 
him  under  the  shade  of  the  only  tree  we  could  find,  in 
the  hope  that  we  could  bring  back  water  to  his  relief. 
Finding  that  it  would  be  many  hours  before  the  horses 
could  be  got  on  to  the  ranges,  I  started  ahead  on  foot, 
leaving  Brown  and  Harding  to  come  on  gently,  while  I  was 
to  make  a  signal  by  fires  if  successful  in  finding  water. 
Two  hours'  heavy  toil  through  the  sand,  under  a  broiling 
sun,  brought  me  to  the  ranges,  where  I  continued  to 
hunt  up  one  ravine  after  another  until  5  p.m.  without 
success.  Twelve  hours'  almost  incessant  walking,  on  a 
scanty  breakfast  and  without  water,  with  the 
thermometer  over  a  hundred  degrees  of  Fahrenheit, 
began  to  tell  upon  me  severely;  so  much  so  that  by  the 
time  I  had  tracked  up  my  companions  (who  had  reached 
the  hills  by  1  p.m.  and  were  anxiously  waiting  for  me) 
it  was  as  much  as  I  could  do  to  carry  my  rifle  and 
accoutrements.  The  horses  were  looking  truly  wretched, 
and  I  was  convinced  that  the  only  chance  of  saving  them, 
if  water  was  not  found,  would  be  by  abandoning  our 
pack-saddles,  provisions,  and  everything  we  could 
possibly  spare,  and  try  and  recover  them  afterwards  if 
practicable.  We  therefore  encamped  for  the  night  on 
the  last  plot  of  grass  we  could  find,  and  proceeded  to  make 
arrangements  for  an  early  start  in  the  morning.  There 
was  still  a  few  pints  of  water  in  the  kegs,  having  been 
very  sparing  in  the  use  of  it;  this  enabled  us  to  have  a 
little  tea  and  make  a  small  quantity  of  damper,  of  which 
we  all  stood  in  much  need.    Camp  77. 

"8th  September.  At  4  p.m.  we  were  again  up, 
having  disposed  of  our  equipments  and  provisions, 
except  our  riding-saddles,  instruments,  and  firearms,  by 
suspending  them  in  the  branches  of  a  low  tree.  We 
divided  a  pint  of  water  for  our  breakfast,  and  by  the 
first  peep  of  dawn  were  driving  our  famished  horses 


A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  GREGORY 


261 


at  their  best  speed  towards  the  depot,  which  was  now 
thirty-two  miles  distant.  For  the  first  eight  miles  they 
went  on  pretty  well,  but  the  moment  the  sun  began  to 
have  power  they  flagged  greatly,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  we  were  obliged  to  relinquish  another  horse 
quite  unable  to  proceed.  By  9  a.m.  I  found  that  my 
previous  day's  march,  and  the  small  allowance  of  food 
that  I  had  taken,  was  beginning  to  have  its  effects  upon 
me,  and  that  it  was  probable  that  I  could  not  reach  the 
depot  before  next  morning,  by  which  time  the  party  left 
there   were   to   fall   back   to   the   Oakover;   I   therefore 

directed    Brown,    who    was 

O  somewhat  fresher  than  my- 

self, to  push  on  to  the  camp 
I  and  bring  out  fresh  horses 

i  and    water,    while    Harding 

and  myself  would  do  our 
best  to  bring  on  any  strag- 
gling horses  that  could  not 
keep  up  with  him.  By  dark 
we  succeeded  in  reaching  to 
within  nine  miles  of  the 
depot,  finding  unmistakable 
signs  towards  evening  of  the 
condition  to  which  the  horses 
taken  on  by  Brown  were  re- 
duced, by  the  saddles,  guns, 
hobbles,  and  even  bridles, 
scattered  along  the  line  of  march,  which  had  been  taken 
off  to  enable  them  to  get  on  a  few  miles  further. ' ' 

Next  morning  they  met  Brown  within  a  few  miles  of 
the  depot  coming  back  to  them  with  water.  All  the 
horses  but  the  two  which  had  been  left  at  the  remotest 
point  were  recovered. 

Further  on  Gregory  remarks  upon  the  painful  effects 

produced  on  the  horses  by  excessive  heat  and  thirst:— 

"I   cannot   omit   to    remark   the    singular   effects    of 

excessive    thirst    upon    the    eyes    of    the    horses;    they 

absolutely  sunk  into  their  heads  until  there  was  a  hollow 


Maitland  Brown. 


262  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

of  sufficient  depth  to  bury  the  thumb  in,  and  there  was 
an  appearance  as  though  the  whole  of  the  head  had 
shrunk  with  them,  producing  a  very  unpleasant  and 
ghastly  expression. ' ' 

Gregory  was  now  convinced  that  the  sandy  tract  before 
him  was  not  to  be  crossed  with  the  means  at  his  command, 
so  reluctantly  he  had  to  return  to  the  Oakover  and  follow 
that  river  down  to  its  junction  with  the  De  Grey.  Down 
the  united  streams,  which  now  bore  the  name  of  the 
De  Grey,  the  weary  explorers  travelled  through  good 
fertile  land,  until  the  coast  was  reached  on  the  25th  of 
September.  The  worn-out  state  of  their  horses  delayed 
them  greatly  in  getting  across  a  piece  of  dry  country 
between  the  Yule  and  the  Sherlock,  where  one  animal 
had  to  be  abandoned. 

On  the  18th  of  October,  they  reached  Nickol  Bay,  and 
were  gladly  welcomed  by  the  crew  of  the  ''Dolphin," 
who  had  profitably  passed  their  time  in  collecting  several 
tons  of  pearl-shell  and  a  few  pearls.  On  the  23rd  the 
horses  and  equipment  were  shipped,  and  the  ''Dolphin" 
sailed  for  Fremantle. 

This  journey  ended  Frank  Gregory's  active  life  an 
an  explorer;  and  it  was  a  noteworthy  career  which  now 
closed.  For  the  western  colony  he  had  thrown  open  to 
settlement  the  vast  area  of  the  north-western  coastal 
territory;  and  after  relieving  the  Murchison  from  the 
stigma  of  barrenness  that  rested  on  it,  he  had  discovered 
and  made  known  all  the  rivers  to  the  north  and  east,  until 
the  Oakover  was  reached. 

It  is  singular  that  Frank  Gregory  should,  like  nearly  all 
explorers,  have  erred  greatly  in  the  deductions  he  drew. 
When  forced  to  turn  back  from  the  country  beyond  the 
Oakover,  he  much  laments  the  fact,  because,  "not  only 
had  we  now  attained  to  within  a  very  few  miles  of  the 
longitude  in  which,  from  various  geographical  data,  there 
are  just  grounds  for  believing  that  a  large  river  may  be 
found  to  exist  draining  central  Australia;  but  the  char- 
acter of  the  country  appeared  strongly  to  indicate  the 
vicinity  of  such  a  feature." 


A.  C.  AND  F.  T.  GKEGOEY  263 

Of  course  we  now  know  that  no  such  river  drains  the 
centre  of  Australia.  On  the  contrary,  beyond  Gregory's 
eastern  limit  there  occurs  a  long  stretch  of  coastline 
unmarked  by  the  mouth  of  any  river.  Inland,  to  the 
southward,  the  country  even  to  this  day  is  known  as  the 
most  hostile  and  repellant  desert  in  Australia,  markedly 
deficient  in  continuous  watercourses.  Providence,  then, 
restrained  his  footsteps  from  a  land  wherein  earth  and 
sun  seem  to  unite  in  hostility  against  the  white  intruder. 
It  is  a  pity  that  Frank  Gregory  did  not  give  his  undoubted 
powers  of  description  free  scope  in  his  Journal.  Now 
and  again  he  gives  them  rein;  but  soon  calls  a  halt,  as 
though  alarmed  that  picturesque  language  should  be 
found  in  a  scientific,  geographical  journal.  His  brother 
Augustus  was  unfortunately  just  as  correct  and  precise. 

Frank  went  to  reside  in  Queensland  in  1862,  and  was 
nominated  to  the  Legislative  Council  of  that  colony  in 
1874.  Before  going  to  Queensland  he  had  acted  for 
some  time  as  Surveyor- General  of  Western  Australia. 
He  was  married  at  Ipswich,  Queensland,  to  the  daughter 
of  Alexander  Hume.  He  held  ofiice  for  some  time  in 
the  Mcllwraith  Ministry,  as  Postmaster-General.  He  was 
a  gold  medallist  of  the  Eoyal  Geographical  Society,  and 
one  of  the  best  of  the  Australian  explorers,  as  bushman, 
navigator,  surveyor,  and  scientist.  He  died  at 
Toowoomba,  in  1888,  on  the  24th  of  October. 


Chapter  XIX. 
FROM  WEST  TO  EAST. 


(i.) — Austin. 

By  1854  the  gold  fever  was  running  high  in  Australia^ 
and  each  colony  was  eager  to  discover  new  diggings 
within  its  borders.  Robert  Austin,  Assistant  Surveyor- 
General  of  Western  Australia,  was  instructed  to  take 
charge  of  an  inland  exploring  party  to  search  for  pastoral 
country,  and  to  examine  the  interior  for  indications  of 
gold. 

He  started  from  the  head  of  the  Swan  River  on  a 
north-easterly  course,  and  on  the  16th  of  July  reached 
a  lake,  rumours  of  whose  existence  had  been  spread  by 
the  blacks,  who  had  called  it  Cowcowing.  The  colonists 
had  hoped  that  it  would  prove  to  be  a  lake  of  fresh 
water  in  the  Gascoyne  valley,  but  Cowcowing  in  reality 
was  a  salt  marsh,  no  great  distance  from  the  starting- 
point  of  Austin's  expedition. 

The  lake  was  dry  and  its  bed  covered  with  salt 
incrustations,  showing  that  its  waters  are  undoubtedly 
saline.  Thence  Austin  made  directly  north,  and  passing 
through  repellant  country,  such  as  always  fell  to  the  lot 
of  the  early  western  explorers  in  their  initial  efforts,  he 
directed  his  course  to  a  distant  range  of  table-topped 
hills.  Here  he  found  both  grass  and  water,  and  named 
the  highest  elevation  Mount  Kenneth,  after  Kenneth 
Brown,  a  member  of  his  party.  Thence  he  kept  a  north- 
east course,  traversing  stony  plains  intersected  by  the 
dry  beds  of  sandy  watercourses.  Here  the  party  met 
with  dire  misfortune.  The  horses  ate  from  a  patch  of 
poisonous  box  plant,  and  nearly  all  of  them  were  disabled. 
A  few  escaped,  but  the  greater  number  never  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  the  poison,  and  fourteen  died.  Pushing 
on  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  safe  place  in  which  to  recruit. 


FEOM    WEST    TO    EAST  265 

Austin  found  himself  so  crippled  in  his  means  of  transit 
that  he  had  to  abandon  all  but  his  most  necessary  stores. 

He  now  made  for  Shark's  Bay,  whither  a  vessel  was- 
to  be  sent  to  render  him  assistance  or  take  the  party 
home  if  required.  The  course  to  Shark's  Bay  led  them 
over  country  that  did  not  tempt  them  to  linger  on  the 
way.  On  the  21st  of  September  a  sad  accident  occurred. 
They  were  then  camped  at  a  spring  near  a  cave  in  the 
face  of  a  cliff,  in  which  there  were  some  curious  native 
rock-paintings.  While  resting  here,  a  young  man  named 
Charles  Farmer  accidentally  shot  himself  in  the  arm,, 
and  in  spite  of  the  most  careful  attention  the  poor  fellow 
died  of  lockjaw  in  the  most  terrible  agony.  He  was 
buried  at  the  cave-spring  camp,  and  the  highest  hill  in 
the  neighbourhood  was  christened  Mount  Farmer.  His 
death  and  burial  reminds  one  of  Sturt's  friend  Poole, 
who  rests  in  the  east  of  the  continent  under  the  shadow 
of  Mount  Poole.  Thus  two  lonely  graves  in  the 
Australian  wilderness  are  guarded  by  mountains  whose 
names  perpetuate  the  memory  of  their  occupants.  And 
who  could  desire  a  nobler  monument  than  the  everlasting 
hills  I 

Austin  now  came  to  the  upper  tributaries  of  the 
Murchison  only  to  find  them  waterless.  Even  the  deep 
cut  channel  of  the  Murchison  itself  was  dry.  They  crossed 
the  river,  but  beyond  it  all  their  efforts  to  penetrate 
westward  were  in  vain.  They  had  fought  their  way  to 
within  one  hundred  miles  of  Shark's  Bay,  but  they  had 
then  been  sa  long  without  water  that  further  advance 
meant  certain  death.  Even  during  the  retreat  to  the 
Murchison,  the  lives  of  the  horses  were  saved  only  by 
the  accidental  discovery  of  a  small  native  well  in  a  most 
improbable  situation,  namely,  in  the  middle  of  a  bare 
ironstone  plain.  Their  only  course  now  was  to  fall  back 
on  the  Murchison,  hoping  that  they  would  find  water  at 
their  crossing.  Austin  pushed  on  ahead  of  the  main 
body,  and  struck  the  river  twenty-five  miles  below  their 
previous  crossing,  to  make  the  tantalising  discovery  that 
the  pools  of  water  on  which  they  had  fixed  their  hopes 
were  hopelessly  salt. 


266  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

A  desperate  and  vain  search  was  made  to  the  south- 
ward, during  a  day  of  fierce  and  terrible  heat;  but  on 
the  next  day,  having  made  for  some  small  hills  they  had 
sighted,  they  providentially  found  both  water  and  grass. 
The  whole  party  rested  at  this  spot,  which  was  gratefully 
named  Mount  Welcome. 

Nothing  daunted  by  the  sufferings  he  had  undergone, 
Austin  now  made  another  attempt  to  reach  Shark's  Bay. 
On  the  way  to  the  Murchison,  they  had  induced  an  old 
native  to  come  with  them  to  point  out  the  watering-places 
of  the  blacks.  At  first  he  was  able  to  show  them  one  or 
two  that  in  all  probability  they  would  have  missed,  but 
after  they  had  crossed  the  Murchison  and  proceeded 
some  distance  to  the  westward,  the  water  the  native  had 
relied  on  was  found  to  have  disappeared,  and  it  was  only 
after  the  most  acute  suiferings  from  thirst  and  the  loss 
of  some  more  horses,  that  they  managed  to  struggle  back 
to  Mount  Welcome. 

Austin's  conduct  during  these  terrible  marches  seems 
to  have  bordered  on  the  heroic.  Whilst  his  companions 
fell  away  one  by  one  and  lay  down  to  die,  and  the  one 
native  of  the  wilds  was  cowering  weeping  under  a  bush, 
he  toiled  on  and  managed  to  reach  a  little  well  which 
the  blackfellow  had  formerly  shown  him.  Without 
resting,  he  tramped  back  with  water  to  revive  his 
exhausted  companions. 

At  Mount  Welcome  they  found  the  water  on  the  point 
of  giving  out,  and  weak  and  exhausted  though  they  were, 
an  immediate  start  had  to  be  made  to  the  Geraldine  mine, 
a  small  settlement  having  been  formed  there  to  work 
the  galena  lode  discovered  by  Gregory.  That  they  would 
€ver  reach  the  mine  the  explorers  could  not  hope;  they 
and  their  horses  were  in  a  state  of  extreme  weakness, 
the  distance  to  the  mine  was  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles, 
and  to  the  highest  point  on  the  Murchison,  where  Gregory 
had  found  water,  their  first  stage  was  ninety  miles.  They 
began  their  journey  at  midnight,  and  by  means  of  forced 
marches,  travelling  day  and  night,  they  reached 
Gregory's  old  camp  on  the  river.    Fortunately  they  had 


FROM    WEST    TO    EAST  267 

foimd  a  small  supply  of  water  at  one  place  on  the  way. 
From  this  point  the  worst  of  their  perils  were  passed. 
They  followed  the  river  down,  obtaining  water  from 
springs  in  the  banks,  and  on  the  27th  of  November 
arrived  at  the  mine,  where  they  were  warmly  entertained. 
Thence  they  returned  to  Perth,  some  by  sea  and  some 
overland. 

Austin's  exploration  had  led  to  no  profitable  result. 
Cowcowing  had  proved  only  a  saline  marsh  similar  to 
Lake  Moore,  the  large  lake  which  had  haunted  Gregory; 
the  upper  Murchison  was  not  of  a  nature  to  invite  further 
acquaintance  or  settlement ;  and  the  whole  of  the  journey 
had  been  a  disheartening  round  of  daily  struggles  with 
a  barren  and  waterless  district,  under  the  fiery  sun  of 
the  southern  summer. 

Austin  thought  that  eastward  of  his  limit  the  country 
would  improve;  but  subsequent  explorations  have  not 
substantiated  his  supposition.  He  had  had  singularly 
hard  fortune  to  contend  against.  After  the  serious  loss 
he  sustained  by  the  poisoning  of  his  horses,  a  risk  that 
cannot  be  effectually  warded  off  by  the  greatest  care, 
he  had  been  pitted  against  exceptionally  dry  country, 
covered  with  dense  scrub  and  almost  grassless,  in  which 
the  men  and  horses  must  assuredly  have  lost  their  lives 
but  for  his  dauntless  and  heroic  conduct. 

Austin  afterwards  settled  in  North  Queensland,  and 
followed  the  profession  of  mining  surveyor. 

(ii.) — Sir  John  Forrest. 

John  Forrest,  the  explorer  who  ultimately  succeeded 
in  crossing  the  hitherto  impassable  desert  of  the  western 
centre,  now  made  his  first  essay.  An  old  rumour  that 
the  blacks  had  slain  some  white  men  and  their  horses 
on  a  salt  lake  in  the  interior  was  now  revived,  and  gained 
some  credence.  A  black  who  stated  that  he  had  visited 
the  scene  of  the  incident  was  interviewed,  and  Baron  von 
Mueller  wrote  to  the  Western  Australian  Government 
offering  to  lead  a  party  thither  and  ascertain  if  there 
was  any  truth  in  the  report.    The  Government  favourably 


268 


EXPLOREES    OF    AUSTRALIA 


considered  the  offer,  and  made  preparations  to  send  out 
a  party.  Von  Mueller  was  prevented  from  taking  charge, 
and  the  command  was  given  to  John  Forrest,  then  a 
surveyor  in  the  Government  service.  Forrest  was  born 
near  Bunbury,  Western  Australia,  on  the  22nd  of  August, 
1847,  and  entered  the  Survey  Department  of  West 
Australia  in  December,  1865. 

On  the  26th  of  April,  1869,  Forrest  left  Yarraging, 
then  the  furthest  station  to  the  eastward.  When  camped 
at  a  native  well,  visited  by  Austin  thirteen  years  before, 
he  says  that  he  could  still  distinctly  see  the  tracks  of  that 
explorer's  horses.  Past  this  spot  he  fell  in  with  some 
natives  who  told  him  that  a  large  party  of  men  and 

horses  had  died  in  a  locality 
away  to  the  north,  and  that 
a  gun  belonging  to  the  party 
was  in  possession  of  the 
natives.  On  closer  examina- 
tion this  story  was  proved 
to  have  its  origin  in  the  death 
of  Austin's  horses. 

Forrest  continued  his 
journey  to  the  east,  and  on 
the  18th  came  to  a  large  dry 
salt  lake,  which  he  named 
Lake  Barlee.  An  attempt  to 
cross  this  lake  resulted  in  the 
bogging  of  the  horses,  and  it 
was  only  after  strenuous 
and  packs  were  once  more 
Lake  Barlee  was  afterwards 
found  to  be  of  considerable  size,  extending  for  more  than 
forty  miles  to  the  eastward. 

The  native  guide  Forrest  had  with  him  now  began  to 
express  doubts  as  to  his  knowledge  of  the  exact  spot 
at  which  he  saw  the  remains.  After  considerable  search, 
Forrest  came  across  a  large  party  of  the  aborigines  of 
the  district.  These  men,  however,  proved  to  be  anything 
but   friendly;    they   threw   dowaks    at    the    guide,    and 


John  Forrest  in  1874. 


exertions   that  the  horses 
brought  on  to  hard  ground. 


FROM    WEST    TO    EAST  269 

advised  the  whites  to  go  back  before  they  were  killed. 
Next  morning  they  had  speech  with  two  of  them,  who 
said  that  the  bones  were  those  of  horses,  some  distance 
to  the  north ;  they  said  they  would  come  to  the  camp  the 
next  day  and  lead  the  whites  there,  but  they  did  not  fulfil 
their  promise.  No  other  profitable  intercourse  with  the 
blacks  was  possible.  One  old  man  howled  piteously  all 
the  time  they  were  in  his  company,  and  another,  who  had 
two  children  with  him,  gave  them  to  understand  most 
emphatically  that  he  had  never  heard  of  any  horses 
having  been  killed,  though  some  natives  had  just  killed 
and  eaten  his  own  brother. 

After  vainly  searching  the  district  for  many  days, 
Forrest  determined  to  utilise  the  remainder  of  the  time 
at  his  disposal  by  examining  the  country  as  far  to  the 
eastward  as  his  resources  would  permit.  It  was  now 
clear  that  the  story  of  the  white  men's  remains  had 
originated  in  the  skeletons  of  the  horses  that  perished 
during  Austin's  trip.  No  matter  how  circumstantial 
might  be  a  narration  of  the  blacks,  they  invariably 
contradicted  themselves  the  next  time  they  were 
interrogated,  and  it  was  evident  that  no  useful  purpose 
would  be  served  by  following  them  on  a  foolish  errand 
from  place  to  place.  Forrest  therefore  penetrated  some 
distance  east,  but  was  not  encouraged  by  the  discovery 
of  any  useful  country.  Nevertheless,  he  started  on  a 
solitary  expedition  ahead,  taking  only  one  black  boy  and 
provisions  for  seven  days.  He  reached  a  point  one 
hundred  miles  beyond  the  camp  of  the  main  body,  to  the 
eastward  of  Mount  Margaret  on  the  present  goldfields. 
He  ascended  the  highest  tree  he  could  find,  and  found 
the  outlook  was  dreary  and  desolate.  The  country  was 
certainly  slightly  more  open  than  that  hitherto  traversed, 
but  it  was  covered  with  spinifex,  interspersed  with  an 
occasional  stunted  gum-tree.  Rough  sandstone  cliffs 
were  visible  about  six  miles  to  the  north-east,  and  more  to 
the  north  appeared  a  narrow  line  of  samphire  flats  with 
gum  trees  and  cypress  growing  on  their  edges.  Of 
surface  water  there  was  no  appearance. 


270  EXPLOREKS  OP  AUSTRALIA 

On  his  homeward  route  Forrest  kept  a  more  northerly 
and  westerly  course,  and  crossed  Lake  Barlee  and 
examined  the  northern  shore;  but  he  found  nothing  to 
induce  him  to  modify  the  unfavourable  opinion 
pronounced  on  the  country  by  other  explorers.  He 
returned  to  Perth  on  the  6th  August. 

Forrest  was  next  placed  at  the  head  of  an  expedition 
which  was  to  cross  to  Adelaide  by  way  of  the  shores  of 
the  Great  Australian  Bight,  along  the  same  ill-omened 
route  followed  by  Eyre,  and  never  trodden  since  his 
remarkable  journey.  This  time  the  historic  cliffs  were  to 
be  traversed  with  but  slight  privation  and  no  bloodshed. 
Though  the  information  supplied  by  Eyre  was  considered 
to  be  thoroughly  trustworthy,  it  was  recognized  that 
with  the  scanty  means  of  observation  at  his  command 
and  his  famished  condition,  a  few  important  facts  might 
have  escaped  his  notice,  and  that  if  his  route  were 
followed  by  a  well-equipped  party,  the  terrors  of  the 
region  might  assume  less  gigantic  proportions. 

Forrest's  company  was  to  consist  of  the  leader  and  his 
brother  Alexander,  two  white  men,  and  two  natives,  one 
of  whom  had  accompanied  Forrest  on  his  former  trip. 
A  coasting  schooner,  the  ^'Adur,"  of  30  tons,  was  to 
accompany  them  round  the  coast,  calling  at  Esperance 
Bay,  Israelite  Bay,  and  Eucla,  supplying  them  with 
provisions  at  these  depots. 

On  the  30th  of  March  they  left  Perth.  The  first  part 
of  the  journey  to  Esperance  Bay  was  through 
comparatively  settled  and  well-known  country,  so  that 
no  fresh  interest  attached  to  it.  They  arrived  at 
Dempster's  station  at  Esperance  a  few  days  before  the 
''Adur"  sailed  into  the  Bay,  and  on  the  9th  of  May, 
1870,  they  started  on  their  next  stage  to  Israelite  Bay. 

From  Esperance  Bay  to  Israelite  Bay  the  journey 
lacked  incident,  and  it  was  not  until  Forrest  again  parted 
from  his  relief  boat  that  he  had  to  encounter  the  most 
serious  part  of  his  undertaking.  He  had  now  to  face 
the  line  of  cliffs  which  frowned  over  the  Bight,  behind 
which  he  had,  as  he  knew,  little  or  no  chance  of  finding 


FEOM    WEST    TO    EAST 


271 


272  EXPLOREKS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

water  for  150  miles.  Having  made  what  arrangements 
lie  could  to  carry  water,  he  left  the  last  water  on  the  5th 
of  April.  About  a  week  afterwards  he  reached  the  break 
in  the  cliffs,  where  water  could  be  obtained  by  digging 
in  the  sandhills.  Luckily  they  had  found  many  small 
rock-holes  filled  with  water,  which  had  enabled  them  to 
push  steadily  on.  Forrest  says  that  the  cliffs,  which 
fell  perpendicularly  to  the  sea,  although  grand  in  the 
extreme,  were  terrible  to  gaze  from: — 

"After  looking  very  cautiously  over  the  precipice,  we 
all  ran  back,  quite  terrified  by  the  dreadful  view. ' ' 

While  resting  and  recruiting  at  the  sandhills,  he  made 
an  excursion  to  the  north,  and  after  passing  through 
a  fringe  of  scrub  twelve  miles  deep,  he  came  upon  most 
beautifully-grassed  downs.  At  fifty  miles  from  the  sea 
there  was  nothing  visible  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach 
but  gentle  undulating  plains  of  grass  and  saltbush. 
There  being  no  prospects  of  water,  he  was  forced  to  turn 
back,  fortunately  finding  a  few  surface  pools  both  on  his 
outward  and  homeward  way. 

On  the  24th  they  started  from  the  sandhills  for  Eucla, 
the  last  meeting-place  appointed  with  the  "Adur." 
During  this  stage  he  kept  to  the  north  of  the  Hampton 
Range,  and  through  a  country  well-grassed  but  destitute 
of  surface  water.  The  party  reached  Eucla  on  the  2nd 
of  July,  and  found  the  "Adur"  duly  awaiting  them. 
Whilst  at  Eucla,  Forrest,  in  company  with  his  brother, 
made  another  excursion  to  the  north ;  he  penetrated  some 
thirty  miles  inland,  and  found  as  before  boundless  plains, 
beautifully-grassed,  though  destitute  of  any  signs  of 
water. 

After  leaving  Eucla,  the  explorers  had  a  distressing 
stage  to  the  head  of  the  Great  Bight,  where  they  finally 
obtained  water  by  digging  in  the  sand.  On  this  stage 
the  horses  suffered  more  than  on  any  previous  one, 
having  had  to  travel  three  days  without  a  drink.  From 
this  point  they  soon  reached  the  settled  districts  of  South 
Australia  in  safety. 


FROM    WEST    TO    EAST  273 

Although  this  journey  of  Forrest's  cannot  strictly  be 
called  an  exploring  expedition,  inasmuch  as  he  repeated 
the  journey  made  under  such  terrible  conditions  by  Eyre 
travelling  in  the  opposite  direction,  yet  it  is  of  first- 
rate  importance,  inasmuch  as,  owing  to  the  greater 
facilities  he  enjoyed,  he  was  able  to  pronounce  a  more 
final  verdict  than  Eyre  was  able  to  give.  Forrest  found 
that  the  gloomy  thicket  was  a  fringe  confined  to  the 
immediate  coast-line.  On  every  occasion  that  he 
penetrated  it,  he  came  on  good  pastoral  land  beyond. 
He  writes : — 

''The  country  passed  over  between  longitude  126 
degrees  24  minutes  and  128  degrees  30  minutes  E.  as 
a  grazing  country  far  surpasses  anything  I  have  ever 
seen.  There  is  nothing  in  the  settled  portion  of  Western 
Australia  equal  to  it,  either  in  extent  or  quality;  but  the 
absence  of  permanent  water  is  a  great  drawback.  .  .  . 
The  country  is  very  level,  with  scarcely  any  undulation, 
and  becomes  clearer  as  you  proceed  north. ' ' 

On  his  arrival  in  Adelaide  he  received  a  hearty 
welcome,  and  a  similar  reception  was  accorded  him  on  his 
return  to  Perth.  Unfortunately  this  expedition  destroyed 
all  hope  of  the  existence  of  any  river,  the  mouth  of  which 
might  have  been  crossed  unwittingly  by  Eyre. 

We  now  come  to  that  exploit  which  gained  for  Forrest 
a  place  in  the  foremost  rank  of  Australian  explorers. 
The  western  central  desert  had  long  defied  the  explorers 
in  their  attempts  to  cross  its  dread  confines.  But  the 
young  West  Australian  took  his  men  and  most  of  his 
horses  through  the  very  heart  of  the  terrible  desert. 
We  have  seen  how  three  expeditions  had  started  from  the 
east  for  the  purpose  of  making  this  continental  traverse, 
all  differently  composed — one  with  the  aid  of  camels 
only,  one  with  a  composite  equipment  of  both  horses  and 
camels,  and  the  third  with  only  horses.  The  successful 
expedition  to  be  now  recorded  travelled  from  west  to 
east,  and  crossed  the  desert  with  horses  only. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1874,  Forrest  left  Yuin,  then  the 
border  of  settlement  on  the  Murchison,  accompanied  by 


274  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

his  brother  Alexander,  two  white  men,  and  two  natives, 
to  endeavour  to  cross  the  unknown  stretch  of  desert 
country  that  separated  the  colonies  of  eastern  Australia 
from  the  western  settlements.  Their  route  at  first  lay 
along  the  Murchison  River,  following  the  upper  course, 
which  they  found  to  run  through  well-grassed  country, 
available  for  either  sheep  or  cattle.  From  the  crest  of 
the  head  watershed  they  had  a  view  of  their  future 
travelling-ground  to  the  eastward.  It  appeared  level, 
with  low  elevations,  but  there  was  a  lack  of  conspicuous 
hills,  which  did  not  promise  favourably  for  water-finding, 
though  good  pasture  might  be  obtainable. 

For  the  next  few  days  the  party  were  dependent  for 
water  on  occasional  springs  and  scanty  clay-pans.  On 
the  27th,  when  following  down  a  creek,  they  suddenly 
came  upon  a  fine  spring,  apparently  permanent,  which 
is  described  by  Forrest  m  his  journal  as  one  of  the  best 
he  had  ever  seen,  both  the  grass  and  other  herbage  around 
being  of  fine  quality.  This  place  he  named  Windich 
Springs,  after  Tommy  Windich,  one  of  the  blacks  who 
had  now  been  with  Forrest  on  three  expeditions.  To  the 
north-west  was  a  fine  range  of  hills,  which  he  named  the 
Carnarvon  Eange.  On  leaving  this  oasis,  the  explorers 
found  themselves  in  less  attractive  country ;  spinif ex  and 
sand  became  more  frequent  features  of  the  landscape, 
and  the  occasional  water-supply  became  precarious. 

On  the  2nd  of  June,  Forrest  discovered  the  spring 
which  aided  them  so  greatly  in  their  efforts  to  cross. 
This  he  called  Weld  Springs,  and  he  describes  it  as 
unlimited  in  supply,  clear,  fresh,  and  extending  down 
its  gully  for  over  twenty  chains.  At  this  relief  camp  they 
halted  in  order  to  rest  the  horses. 

On  the  8th  Forrest  started  on  a  scouting  expedition 
ahead,  taking  only  a  black  boy  with  him.  He  fully 
anticipated  finding  water,  for  as  yet  they  had  not  reached 
a  waterless  region,  and  he  left  instructions  for  the  rest 
to  follow  in  his  tracks  in  a  day's  time.  He  was  unfor- 
tunate in  his  selection  of  a  course,  for  it  led  them  for 
more  than  twenty  miles   over  undulating   sand-ridges. 


FROM    WEST    TO    EAST 


275 


d    o 


276  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

without  a  sight  of  any  indication  of  the  presence  of  water. 
At  daybreak,  from  the  top  of  a  low  stony  rise,  he  obtained 
an  extensive  outlook.  Far  as  he  could  see  to  the  north 
and  east,  nothing  was  visible  but  the  level  unending 
spinifex;  not  a  watercourse  or  a  hill  in  sight.  Evidently 
they  were  trespassing  on  the  edge  of  the  central  desert. 
Turning  back  they  met  the  remainder  of  the  party 
about  twenty  miles  from  Weld  Springs;  and  the  whole 
body  retreated  to  their  lately  deserted  camp.  After  a 
day's  rest,  Alexander  Forrest  and  a  black  boy  started  to 
the  south-east  searching  for  water.  At  one  o'clock  sixty 
or  seventy  natives  appeared  on  the  brow  of  the  rise 
overlooking  the  camp.  They  were  painted  and  dressed 
in  war  costume,  and  evidently  planning  an  attack.  After 
some  consultation  they  suddenly  descended  the  slope  and 
dashed  at  the  camp.  Fortunately  the  whites  were  on 
the  alert,  and  a  well-directed  volley  sent  them  in  head- 
long retreat  to  their  vantage-point  on  the  brow  of  the 
ridge,  where  they  held  a  fresh  council  of  war.  Presently 
they  renewed  the  assault,  but  a  rifle-shot  from  Forrest 
put  an  end  to  the  skirmish.  That  evening  Alexander  and 
the  boy  returned,  and  were  much  surprised  to  hear  of  the 
adventure  with  the  blacks.  They  had  been  over  fifty 
miles  from  camp  and  had  passed  over  some  well-grassed 
country  but  had  found  no  water.  As  their  detention 
at  Weld  Springs  promised  to  be  indefinite,  the  party  then 
built  a  rough  shelter  of  stones  in  order  to  ensure  them- 
selves some  measure  of  protection  against  night  attacks. 
When  this  small  defence  work  was  finished,  Forrest  again 
reconnoitred  ahead  for  water  accompanied  by  one  black 
boy,  and  found  some  clay  waterholes,  of  no  great  extent, 
but  sufficient  for  camping  purposes.  Thither  the  camp 
was  shifted. 

On  the  22nd  the  leader  made  another  search  in  advance, 
and  in  thirty  miles  came  to  a  fine  supply  of  water,  in 
a  gully  running  through  a  well-grassed  plain  whereon 
there  was  abundance  of  good  feed  for  the  horses.  To  the 
south  of  this  spot  there  was  a  small  salt  lake,  which 
he  named  Lake  Augusta.    Another  good  spring  in  grassy 


FEOM    WEST    TO    EAST  277 

country  was  also  found.  On  the  30th  of  June  Forrest 
made  a  scouting  excursion  to  the  eastward,  but 
experienced  ill  fortune;  for  having  penetrated  as  far  as 
possible  into  the  spinifex  country,  his  horses  gave  out. 
By  the  aid  of  some  scanty  pools  of  rain  water  trapped  in 
some  rocks,  he  succeeded  in  getting  a  short  distance 
farther  on  foot,  and  in  reaching  a  low  range.  From  its 
summit  he  obtained  an  extensive  but  depressing  view, 
such  as  too  often  greeted  the  explorer  at  that  time  and 
in  that  part  of  Australia.  Far  away  to  the  north  and 
east,  the  grey  horizon  was  as  level  and  as  uniform  as 
the  placid  sea;  spinifex  everywhere,  unbroken  by  ranges 
or  elevations  within  over  thirty  miles. 

He  was  now  worried  and  perplexed  as  to  the  direction 
of  his  future  movements.  The  main  party  were  following 
up  his  tracks;  but  to  plunge  unthinkingly  into  such  a 
desert  as  lay  in  front  of  them  were  sheer  madness.  Fate 
relented,  however,  and  after  much  toilsome  search 
Forrest  found  a  small  supply  of  water,  enough  for  a  few 
days,  where  he  gratefully  awaited  the  approach  of  his 
companions. 

During  the  short  respite  thus  accorded  them,  a  diligent 
search  for  water  was  made  amongst  the  low  ranges,  the 
only  alternative  being  a  retreat  of  seventy  miles.  A  little 
more  water  was  found  to  the  south-east,  and,  as  there 
was  coarse  rough  grass  around  the  well,  it  helped  to 
prolong  their  rest  and  afforded  more  time  for  further 
search.  This  time  Alexander  Forrest  went  ahead,  and 
twenty-five  miles  further  to  the  eastward  found  a  spring, 
which  was  named  after  him,  the  Alexander  Springs. 

Another  scouting  excursion  to  the  east  was  likewise 
fortunate,  as  far  as  water  was  concerned,  but  the  feed 
for  the  horses  was  very  poor  indeed,  and  they  were 
suffering  greatly.  They  were  now  within  one  hundred 
miles  of  Gosse's  furthest  point  west,  but  that  hundred 
miles  was  one  long  line  of  desert  perils.  Repeated  efforts 
to  traverse  it  only  reduced  the  little  remaining  strength 
in  the  horses,  leading  to  no  discovery  of  water.    But  at 


278  EXPLOEERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

length  a  kindly  shower  filled  some  rock  holes  to  the  north- 
east of  their  camp,  and  after  much  exertion  and  hard- 
ship they  reached  the  old  camp  that  Giles  had  named 
Fort  Mueller,  and  were  able  to  congratulate  themselves 
upon  having  been  the  first  to  bridge  the  central  gap  of 
desert  that  separated  the  two  colonies. 

As  the  course  of  Forrest's  party  from  Fort  Mueller 
to  the  telegraph  line  was  more  or  less  the  same  as  that 
pursued  by  Gosse,  it  is  unnecessary  to  follow  the  journal 
to  its  end.  It  is  enough  to  state  that  on  Sunday,  the 
27th  of  September,  the  telegraph  line  was  reached  at  a 
point  some  distance  to  the  north  of  the  Peake  station. 
Thus  safely  concluded  an  expedition  that  makes  a  mark 
in  our  geographical  history,  although  it  was  accompanied 
by  no  notable  discovery.  Central  Australia  had  now 
been  crossed  in  the  same  zone  that  had  turned  back  the 
explorers  from  the  east,  and  the  fact  that  Forrest  got 
through,  equipped  with  only  the  ordinary  outfit  of  horses 
stamped  him  as  a  leader  of  unusual  foresight  and 
judgment. 

Forrest's  last  expedition  was  rather  a  survey  than  a 
journey  of  discovery.  In  1883,  in  company  with  several 
other  surveyors,  he  landed  at  Roebuck  Bay,  and  examined 
a  large  portion  of  the  Kimberley  Division.  He  proceeded 
from  Roebuck  Bay  to  the  Fitzroy  River,  which  his 
brother  had  lately  explored,  and  examined  the  inter- 
mediate country  as  far  as  St.  George's  Range,  reporting 
that  it  consisted  mainly  of  rich  elevated  grassy  plains 
with  abundance  of  water.  He  also  investigated  Cambridge 
Gulf  and  the  lowest  part  of  the  Ord  River. 

After  quitting  the  field  of  exploration,  John  Forrest 
entered  the  wider  arena  of  politics,  in  which  his 
reputation  was  enhanced.  He  held  the  office  of  Premier 
of  Western  Australia  continuously  for  ten  years,  and  he 
still  fills  a  distinguished  position  among  the  public  men 
of  federated  x^ustralia.  He  was  awarded  the  Gold  Medal 
of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  in  1876,  and  is  now  a 
G.C.M.G.  and  a  Privy  Councillor. 


FROM    WEST    TO    EAST 


279 


( iii. )  — Alexander  Forrest. 

Alexander  Forrest  was  born  in  1849,  and  died  in  1901. 
He  accompanied  his  brother,  as  we  have  already  noted, 
in  two  important  expeditions,  and  in  1871  he  took  charge 
of  a  private  expedition  to  the  eastward  in  search  of 
pastoral  country.  Owing  to  a  late  start,  he  and  his  party 
were  compelled  to  make  for  the  coast  when  they  had 
reached  latitude  31  degrees  south,  longitude  123  degrees 
east.  This  course  led  them  to  Mount  Eagged,  whence, 
proceeding  westerly,  they  returned  to  Perth  by  way  of 

Esperance,  having  pene- 
trated inland  six  hundred 
miles  and  found  a  consider- 
able area  of  good  country. 

In  1879,  Alexander  Forrest 
led  an  expedition  from  the 
De  Grey  River  to  the  now 
customary  goal,  the  overland 
telegraph  line  of  South  Aus- 
tralia. He  left  the  De  Grey 
on  the  25th  of  February,  and 
reached  Beagle  Bay  on  the 
10th  of  April,  the  country 
passed  over  being  like  most 
land^  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  coast,  poor  and  indifferent. 

From  Beagle  Bay  he  followed  the  coast  round  to  the 
Fitzroy,  and  proceeded  up  that  river  until  he  encountered 
a  range,  which  was  named  the  King  Leopold  Range.  Here 
the  party  left  the  Fitzroy,  of  which  river  Forrest  speaks 
very  highly,  and  struck  north,  looking  for  a  pass  through 
the  range.  It  proved  to  be  very  rough  and  precipitous, 
and  when  at  last  they  reached  the  sea,  they  found  them- 
selves in  an  angle,  wedged  in  between  the  sea  and  the 
range,  romantic  and  picturesque,  according  to  Forrest's 
■description,  but  quite  impassable.  Here,  too,  the  natives 
approached  them  in  threatening  numbers,  but  through 
the  exercise  of  tact,  peace  was  preserved.  On  the  22nd 
of  June  they  attacked  one  tier  of  the  range,  and  after  a 


Alexander  Forrest. 


280  EXPLOEERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

steep  climb,  which  caused  the  death  of  one  horse,  they 
reached  the  height  of  800  feet  and  camped.  Finding 
it  so  hard  upon  the  horses,  Forrest  left  them  to  rest,  and 
went  on  foot  to  discover  a  road.  But  he  came  upon 
endless  rugged  zigzags,  which  so  involved  and  baflfled  him 
that  he  gave  it  up  in  despair,  and  returned.  He  had  now, 
most  reluctantly,  to  abandon  the  idea  of  surmounting 
the  range,  and  to  make  for  the  Fitzroy  once  more. 
Following  up  the  Margaret,  a  tributary  of  the  Fitzroy, 
he  managed  to  work  round  the  southern  end  of  the  range, 
which  still  frowned  defiance  at  him,  and  at  last  reached 
the  summit,  the  crest  of  a  tableland,  whence  he  saw  before 
him  good  grassy  hills  and  plains.  Of  this  country,  which 
he  called  Nicholson  Plains,  Forrest  speaks  most 
enthusiastically,  and  doubtless,  after  the  late  struggle 
with  the  range,  it  must  have  appeared  a  perfect  picture 
of  enchantment. 

On  the  24th  they  reached  a  fine  river,  which  was  then 
running  strong.  They  named  it  the  Ord,  and  followed  its 
course  for  a  time.  Thence  he  continued  his  way  to  the 
line,  and  on  the  18th  of  August  came  to  the  Victoria 
Eiver.  From  the  Victoria,  Forrest  had  a  hard  struggle 
to  reach  the  telegraph  line.  The  rations  being  nearly 
exhausted,  and  one  man  being  very  ill,  the  leader  started 
for  Daly  Waters  station,  taking  one  man  with  him.  After 
much  suffering  and  privation  they  at  last  reached  the 
line,  and  obtained  water  at  some  tanks  kept  for  the  use 
of  the  line  repairers.  The  absence  of  a  map  of  the  line 
led  Forrest  to  follow  it  north,  away  from  Daly  Waters, 
and  it  was  four  days  before  they  overtook  a  repairing 
party  and  obtained  food. 

Alexander  Forrest  was  afterwards  for  many  years  a 
member  of  the  Legislative  Council  of  West  Australia, 
was  for  six  years  Mayor  of  Perth  and  a  C.M.G.  He  died 
on  the  20th  June,  1891.  A  bronze  statue  was  erected  to 
his  memory  in  Perth,  W.A.,  by  his  friends. 


Chapter  XX. 


LATEE  EXPLOBATION  IN  THE  WEST. 


(i.) — Cambridge    Gulf    and    the    Kimberley    District. 

The  futile  rush  for  gold  to  the  Kimberley  district  had 
one  good  result — a  better  appreciation  of  its  pastoral 
capabilities,  and  numerous  short  expeditions  were  made 
in  search  of  grazing  country. 

Amongst  these  was  one  by  W.  J.  O'Donnell  and  W. 
Carr-Boyd,  who  explored  an  area  extending  from  the 
overland  line  in  the  directon  of  Roebourne,  and  were 

fortunate  in  find- 
ing good  country. 
Later,  in  1896, 
Carr-Boyd,  accom- 
panied by  a  com- 
panion named 
David  Breardon, 
who  was  after- 
wards out  with 
David  Carnegie, 
visited  the  country 
about  the  Rawlin- 
son  Ranges  and 
penetrated  to  For- 
rest 's  Alexander 
Spring.  His  name 
is  also  known 
in  connection  with 
exploration  in  the  Northern  Territory,  and  he  has  made 
several  excursions  between  the  Southern  goldfields  of 
West  Australia  and  the  South  Australian  border. 

His  experiences  were  not  unlike  those  of  the  other 
explorers;  he  had  to  struggle  on  against  heat,  thirst, 
and  spinifex,  and  found  occasional  tracts  of  pastoral 
land  destitute  of  surface  water. 


Carr-Boyd  and  Camel.    Photographed  at  Laverton, 
W.A.,  October,  1906. 


"282  EXPLOKERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 

In  1884  Harry  Stockdale,  an  experienced  bushman, 
started  from  Cambridge  Gulf  in  order  to  investigate  the 
country  to  the  southward,  and  explore  the  land  in  its 
vicinity. 

From  the  Gulf  southward,  he  traversed  well-watered 
and  diversified  country  till  he  reached  Buchanan's  Creek, 
which  must  be  distinguished  from  the  stream  of  the  same 
name  in  the  Northern  Territory  of  South  Australia.* 
Having  formed  a  depot  there,  he  hoped  to  make  further 
explorations,  but  owing  to  certain  irregularities  which 
had  occurred  among  his  followers  in  his  absence  on  a 
flying  trip,  he  was  compelled  to  start  immediately  for 
his  destination  on  the  overland  line.  A  very  singular 
incident  happened  during  this  latter  part  of  his  journey. 
Two  of  the  men,  named  Mulcay  and  Ashton  desired, 
under  the  plea  of  sickness,  to  be  left  behind,  and  resisted 
•every  attempt  to  turn  them  from  their  purpose.  Stockdale 
reached  the  line  after  suffering  great  hardship,  but  the 
fate  of  the  two  abandoned  men  eluded  all  subsequent 
:search. 

(ii.) — Lindsay   and   the   Elder  Exploring   Expedition. 

In  1891  Sir  Thomas  Elder  of  South  Australia,  who  had 
already  done  much  in  the  cause  of  exploration,  projected 
.another  expedition  on  a  large  and  most  ambitious  plan. 
It  was  called  The  Elder  Exploring  Scientific  Expedition, 
and  its  main  purpose  was  announced  to  be  the  completion 
of  the  exploration  of  Australia.  A  map  was  prepared 
on  which  a  huge  extent  of  the  continent  was  partitioned 
off  into  blocks  each  bearing  a  distinctive  letter.  A,  B,  C, 
D,  etc.,  quite  irrespective  of  the  fact  that  all  these  blocks 
had  been  partially  explored  and  that  some  had  even  been 
settled. 

The  leadership  of  the  party  was  offered  to  and  accepted 
by  David  Lindsay,  who  had  already  won  for  himself  a 
name  as  a  capable  explorer  in  South  Australia.  The 
second  in  charge  was  L.  A.  Wells.  As  the  expedition 
was  in  the  main  destitute  of  any  striking  results,  a  short 
synopsis  of  the  journey  will  satisfy  our  requirements. 

*  See  page  228. 


LATER    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    WEST 


283 


Shortly  after  the  expedition  crossed  the  border-line 
l)etween  South  Australia  and  West  Australia,  Mr.  Leech 
one  of  the  responsible  officers,  was  despatched  on  a  fruit- 
less trip  northward  to  search  for  traces  of  the  ill-fated 
■Gibson,  who  had  perished  with  Giles  some  seventeen 
years  previously.  The  expedition  then  proceeded  via 
Fort  Mueller  to  Mount  Squires,  where  water  was 
obtainable.  Thence  a 
south-west  course  was 
taken  to  Queen  Vic- 
toria's Spring.  In  lati- 
tude 29  degrees,  270 
miles  south  of  Mount 
Squires,  the  eastern  end 
of  a  patch  of  good  pas- 
toral country  was  ob- 
served. On  reaching 
the  springs  they  were 
found  to  be  dry,  and  all 
the  intended  explora- 
tion which  was  to 
be  effected  from  this 
base  had  to  be  aban- 
doned, the  party  having 
to  push  on  to  Eraser's 
Eange;  and  this  hasty 
trip  through  the  desert 
comprised  the  only  use- 
ful work  done'.  Lindsay 
reported  that,  when 
hialf-way  to  the  Eange, 
■country  consisting  of  rich  red  soil,  producing  good  stock 
bushes  but  all  exceedingly  dry.  A  belt  of  country 
deserving  the  attention  of  prospectors  was  also  noted. 
Having  rested  some  time  at  the  Range,  they  set  out  to 
examine,  if  possible,  the  western  side  of  the  desert  they 
had  just  traversed,  but  lack  of  water  compelled  them  to 
take  an  extreme  westerly  course  to  the  Murchison  by 
way  of  Mount  Monger,  passing  through  a  country  covered 


Photo:  Duryca,  Adelaide. 
Sir  Thomas  Elder,  G.C.M.G. 

they    passed     some     good 


284 


EXPLOEERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 


with  miserable  thicket  on  a  sandy  soil  with  granite  out- 
crops. On  the  1st  of  January,  1892,  they  reached  their 
destination,  when  the  majority  of  the  members  left  the 
party,  and  the  leader  was  recalled  to  Adelaide. 

At  the  termination  of  the  original  expedition,  or  rather 
before  its  conclusion  was  absolutely  determined  on,  L.  A. 
Wells  made  a  flying  trip  into  the  district  lying  between 
Giles's  track  of  1876  and  Forrest's  route  of  1874. 
Starting  from  his  depot  at  Welbundinum,  he  completed 
the  examination  of  what  was  practically  the  whole  of 
the  still  unexplored  portion  in  about  six  weeks,  between 
the  23rd  of  February  and  the  4th  of  April.    During  this 

expedition  he  travelled 
834  miles,  discovered  some 
fine  ranges  and  hills,  a 
large  extent  of  pastoral 
country,  some  apparently 
auriferous  land,  but  no 
water  of  a  permanent  kind. 
The  results  were  indeed 
very  promising,  more  valu- 
able than  those  of  the 
original  Elder  Expedition, 
and  Wells,  whose  hopes 
had  risen  with  his  success, 
was  intensely  disappointed 
to  find  on  his  return  that 
the  expedition  had  been 
disbanded.  Both  Lindsay 
and  Wells  were  natives  of  South  Australia,  Lindsay 
having  been  born  at  Goolwa,  and  Wells  at  Yallum  station 
in  the  south-east,  which  was  owned  by  his  father  and 
uncle.  Wells  joined  the  Survey  Department  of  South 
Australia  when  but  eighteen,  and  at  twenty-three  was 
appointed  assistant-surveyor  to  the  North  Territory 
Border  expedition.  On  the  settlement  of  the  border 
question  he  returned  to  Adelaide,  and  is  now  engaged  on 
the  Victoria  River. 


David  Lindsay. 


LATER   EXPLORATION    IIST    THE    WEST  285 

(iii.) — Wells  and  Carnegie  in  the  Northern  Desert. 

By  this  time  the  gold  rush  to  the  southern  portion  of 
Western  Australia  had  set  in  strong,  and  the  country 
that  had  so  long  repelled  the  pastoral  pioneer  by  its 
aridity  was  now  overrun  with  prospectors,  their  camps 
supplied  with  water  by  condensers  at  the  salt  lakes  and 
pools.  At  first  the  loss  of  life  was  very  great ;  for  it  was 
not  likely  that  a  district  that  could  be  safely  traversed 
only  by  the  hardiest  and  most  experienced  bushmen 
would  freely  yield  its  secrets  to  untried  men.  Of  the 
many  deaths  that  occurred  from  thirst,  no  complete 
record  will  ever  be  available.  Some  unrecognisable  and 
mummified  remains  may  some  day  be  found  amid  the 
untrodden  waste ;  but  few  have  yet  been  tempted  to  break 
in  upon  the  solitude  of  the  dead  men  of  the  desert. 

As  the  southern  goldfields  spread  and  became  thickly- 
populated,  the  food  supply  was  an  important  question, 
and  men's  eyes  naturally  turned  to  the  well-stocked 
northern  stations,  from  which  many  cattle  were  being 
sent  south  by  steamer.  Though  the  distance  overland 
was  not  prohibitive,  the  belt  of  desert  country  that  inter- 
vened, upon  which  Warburton  to  his  sorrow  was  the  first 
to  venture,  forbade  the  passage  of  stock.  This  belt  of 
Sahara  extended,  roughly  speaking,  from  the  eastern 
border  of  the  colony  to  the  head  waters  of  the  western 
coastal  rivers.  North  and  south  it  lay  between  the 
parallels  of  19  degrees  and  31  degrees  south.  As  yet  no 
daring  attempt  had  been  made  to  traverse  its  barren 
confines  from  south  to  north.  But,  to  the  born  explorer, 
difficulty  and  danger  give  an  added  zest  to  geographical 
research;  and  in  the  year  1896  two  separate  expeditions 
sought  to  cross  this  dreadful  zone.  Both  left  civilization 
within  a  few  days  of  each  other.  The  first  to  start  was 
known  as  the  Calvert  Expedition,  from  its  originator. 
It  was  under  L.  A.  Wells,  the  South  Australian  surveyor 
who  had  been  the  energetic  second  of  the  former  Elder 
Expedition.  The  other  was  equipped  and  led  by  the 
Hon.  David  Carnegie. 


286 


EXPLORERS    OF    AUSTRALIA 


Wells  formed  a  depot  at  a  spot  well  provided  with 
camel  feed  and  water,  at  some  distance  to  the  south-west 
of  Forrest's  Lake  Augusta,  which  he  found,  at  that  time,, 
dry.-  Here  he  left  the  main  part  of  his  caravan  to  await 
his  return  whilst  he  made  a  flying  trip  to  the  north.  He 
was  away  from  the  10th  of  August  to  the  8th  of 
September,  during  which  he  found  at  his  furthest  point, 
a  distance  of  two  hundred  miles,  a  good  native  well, 
which  he  named  Midway  Well.  On  the  14th  of  September 
the  whole  party  made  a  start,  and  reached  Midway  Well 

on  the  29th,  all  well.  At 
Separation  Well,  an- 
other good  well  a  little 
farther  to  the  north,  the 
party  separated,  C.  F. 
Wells,  a  cousin  of  the 
leader,  and  G.  L.  Jones, 
intending  to  travel  for 
about  eighty  miles  in  a 
north-west  direction  to 
examine  the  country, 
and  then  to  return  on  a 
north-east  course  and 
rejoin  the  caravan  at 
Joanna  Springs,  which 
had  relieved  War  burton 
in  his  extremity.  About 
thirty  miles  south  of 
Joanna  Springs,  where 
the  leader  expected  the  two  men  to  cut  his  tracks,  Wells 
found  his  camels  suffering  terribly  from  the  extreme 
heat  and  their  labours  among  the  constantly-recurring 
sand-ridges,  whilst  the  scanty  native  wells  they  found 
were  insufficient  to  give  their  camels  water.  When  at  last 
they  reached  the  latitude  of  Joanna  Springs  they  had 
been  obliged  to  abandon  three  camels  and  all  their 
equipment  except  the  actual  necessaries. 

It  was  also  evident  that  the  longitude  of  the  springs 
given  by  Warburton  was   wrong,   for   all   the   country 


Photo:  Duryi' 
L.  A.  Wells. 


L-ATEE    EXPLOKATION    IN    THE    WEST  287 

around  was  a  sandy  desert  without  the  slightest 
indication  of  well  or  spring.  To  linger  in  such  a  spot 
was  to  court  destruction,  and  they  had  to  push  on  to  the^ 
Fitzroy  as  fast  as  their  worn-out  camels  could  take  them. 
The  reader  will  remember  that  Warburton  had  failed 
to  find  A.  C.  Gregory's  most  southerly  point  on  Sturt's 
Creek  when  looking  for  it,  and  it  was  afterwards  proved 
that  Joanna  Springs  had  been  charted  by  him  about  ten 
miles  to  the  westward  of  its  true  position.  On  the  7th 
of  November,  in  the  darkness  of  morning  they  at  last 
reached  the  Fitzroy,  with  the  camels  just  at  their  last 
gasp. 

On  the  16th  of  December,  Wells,  accompanied  by  that 
veteran  pioneer  N.  Buchanan,  formerly  of  Queensland,, 
started  back  with  an  Afghan,  a  native  boy,  and  eight 
camels,  to  look  for  the  two  men,  who  he  hoped  had 
succeeded  in  finding  Joanna  Springs.  He  was  absent 
until  the  10th  of  January,  1897,  when  he  was  forced  ta 
return  unsuccessful.  At  the  beginning  of  April,  taking 
with  him  his  former  companions  of  the  expedition.  Wells 
renewed  the  search,  and  on  the  9tli  at  last  succeeded  in 
identifying  the  Joanna  Springs  of  Warburton.  On  the 
13th  some  articles  belonging  to  the  lost  men  were  found 
amongst  the  natives,  but  he  did  not  at  that  time  find  the 
bodies.  He  started  again  with  two  members  of  the  West 
Australia  police  force,  Sub-Inspector  Ord  and  Trooper 
Nicholson,  and  native  trackers.  This  time  they  were 
successful  in  inducing  some  natives  to  guide  them  to  the 
exact  spot  where  the  remains  lay  amongst  the  spinifex 
and  sand.  The  bodies  were  within  six  miles  of  the  place 
where,  on  the  last  search  expedition.  Wells  had  found 
articles  of  equipment  with  the  natives. 

G.  L.  Jones  had  kept  a  journal  which  supplied  the  clue 
to  the  cause  of  their  death. 

"He  stated  in  his  journal,"  says  Wells,  ''that  they 
had  gone  west-north-west  for  five  days  after  separating 
from  the  main  party,  then  travelling  a  short  distance 
north-east,  and  that  both  he  and  Charles  felt  the  heat 
terribly  and  were  both  unwell.     They  then  returned  ta 


288  EXPLOEEES  OF  AUSTEALIA 

the  well  (Separation  Well)  after  an  absence  of  nine  days, 
rested  at  the  water  five  days,  and  then  started  to  follow 
our  tracks  northward.  Afterwards  one  of  their  camels 
died,  which  obliged  them  to  walk  a  great  deal,  and  they 
became  very  weak  and  exhausted  by  the  intense  heat. 
When  writing  he  says  that  two  days  previously  he 
attempted  to  follow  their  camels,  which  had  strayed,  but 
after  walking  half-a-mile  he  felt  too  weak  to  proceed  and 
returned  with  difficulty.  There  was  at  that  time  about 
two  quarts  of  water  remaining  to  them,  and  he  did  not 
think  they  could  last  long  after  that  was  finished." 

From  the  above  extract  from  Wells's  Journal,  it  is 
evident  that  the  unfortunate  men  lost  their  lives  through 
a  mistake  in  judgment  in  returning  to  Separation  Well, 
the  straying  away  of  their  camels,  and  the  merciless  rays 
of  the  desert  sun. 

The  account  of  this,  the  first  expedition  to  cross  the 
great  sandy  desert  from  south  to  north,  confirms  in  every 
particular  War  burton's  experiences  of  the  difficulties  of 
exploration  in  that  region.  The  intense  heat  of  the  sun, 
and  its  radiation  from  the  red  sand-ridges,  the  heat  from 
both  sky  and  earth,  render  it  nearly  impossible  to  travel 
during  day,  the  only  time  when  a  man  can  perceive 
those  slight  indications  which  may  eventually  lead  him  to 
water.  The  traveller  is  therefore  compelled  to  make 
night-stages,  and  frequently  passes  unheeding  the  very 
pool  or  well  that  would  have  saved  his  life.  During  the 
night  not  only  are  the  natural  physical  features  difficult 
to  discern,  but  the  birds,  those  water-guides  of  the  desert, 
are  sleeping. 

As  soon  as  the  news  that  Jones  and  Wells  were  missing 
was  wired  to  Perth,  the  West  Australian  Government 
promptly  despatched  W.  P.  Eudall  in  charge  of  a  search- 
party,  from  Braeside  station  on  the  Oakover  River. 

Crossing  into  the  desert  country,  Rudall,  guided  by 
blacks,  came  upon  a  camp  in  which  footsteps,  supposed 
to  be  those  of  the  missing  men,  were  traceable.  His 
camels  failing  him,  the  tracks  were  lost,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  return.    A  second  search  was  likewise  fruitless, 


LATER    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    WEST 


289 


but  nimours  brought  in  by  the  natives  of  straying  camels, 
caused  a  third  party  to  be  organised.  Eudall  this  time 
went  south  of  the  head  of  the  Oakover,  and  penetrated 
the  dry  spinifex  country  below  the  Tropic.  Here  the 
bodies  of  two  men,  supposed  to  have  been  murdered  by 
the  natives,  were  found,  but  on  further  investigation  it 
was  decided  that  the  remains  were  not  those  of  the  men 
they  were  searching  for.  On  his  return  Rudall  started 
out  on  a  final  trip,  and  penetrated  to  a  point  sixty  miles 
south  of  Joanna  Spring  before  returning.  Though  these 
journeys  were  not  successful  in  attaining  the  initial 
object  of  their  search,  they  were  of  great  service  in 
gaining  much  information  concerning  the  hitherto 
unknown  desert.     Running  easterly  into  this  dry  belt, 

Rudall  found  a  creek,  which 
is  now  known  as  the  Rudall 
River. 

Four  days  after  Wells  had 
started,  the  Hon.  David 
Carnegie,  fourth  son  of  the 
ninth  Earl  of  Southesk,  born 
March  23rd,  1871,  left  an 
outpost  of  civilization  called 
Doyle's  Well,  some  fifty 
miles  south  of  Lake  Darlot, 
intending  to  cross  Warbur- 
ton's  Desert  on  a  north- 
easterly course,  about  two 
hundred  miles  to  the  east  of 
the  route  pursued  by  sur- 
veyor Wells.  The  objects  of 
this  purely  private  expedition  were  (1)  extension 
of  geographical  knowledge;  (2)  the  desire  to 
ascertain  if  any  practicable  stock-route  existed 
between  Kimberley  and  Coolgardie;  (3)  the  discovery 
of  patches  of  auriferous  country  within  the  confines  of 
the  desert.  In  the  two  last  objects  Carnegie  was  doomed 
to  disappointment,  but  as  a  geographical  contribution 
to  our  scanty  knowledge  of  north-west  Australia,  the 
outcome  of  his  repeated  journey  was  distinctly  valuable. 


David  Wynford  Carnegie. 


290  EXPLORERS  OF  AUSTRALIA 

Carnegie'  started  with  three  white  inen  and  a  native 
boy,  and  for  many  days  passed  through  coiintrj^  that 
afforded  no  water  for  the  camels ;  of  which  they  had  nine. 
A  native  was  induced  to  lead  them  to  a  singular  spring 
situated  in  a  cavern  twenty-five  feet  underground. 
Though  the  water  was  not  easy  of  access,  having  to  be, 
hauled  up  by  a  bucket  to  the  surface,  there  was  an  ample 
supply  for  the  camels,  and,  as  Carnegie  considered  the 
well  to  be  permanent,  he  named  it  the  Empress  Spring. 

The  discovery  of  this  subterranean  spring  was  indeed 
a  godsend,  as  when  they  eventually  reached  Forrest's 
Alexander  Spring  they  found  it  dry.  A  similar  experience 
had  befallen  W.  W.  Mills  who,  after  Forrest's 
exploration,  had  attempted  to  take  over  a  mob  of  camels 
in  Forrest's  tracks. 

Strangely  enough  a  lagoon  of  fresh  water  was  found 
at  the  foot  of  the  creek  in  which  the  spring  was  situated, 
and  this  satisfied  their  wants.  From  this  sheet,  which 
was  named  Woodhouse  Lagoon,  the  party  kept  a  nearly 
northerly  course  across  what  Carnegie  calls  in  his  book 
''the  great  undulating  desert  of  gravel."  Over  this 
terrible  region  of  drought  and  desolation  the  party  made 
their  painful  way  by  the  aid  of  miserable  native  wells, 
found  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  a  few  chance 
patches  of  parakeelia,*  until  they  were  relieved  by  finding, 
through  the  good  offices  of  an  aboriginal  guide,  a  beautiful 
spring,  which  was  named  Helena  Spring.  They  were  then 
seven  days  out  from  Woodhouse  Lagoon,  and  during 
the  last  days  of  the  stage  they  had  been  travelling  across 
most  distressing  parallel  sand-ridges. 

From  Helena  Spring  Carnegie  struggled  on,  intending 
to  strike  the  northern  settlements  at  Hall's  Creek  where 
there  is  a  small  mining  township.  On  the  way  there, 
while  still  in  unexplored  country,  they  discovered  one 
more  oasis,  in  a  rock  hole,  which  was  called  Godfrey's 
Tank,  after  Godfrey  Massie,  one  of  the  party.  On 
November  25th,  1896,  they  congratulated  themselves  that 
they  were  at  last  clear  of  the  desert  and  its  desolation, 
haying,  come  out  on  to  a  well-watered  shady  river,  running 

*  A  ground  plant  which  camels  eat,  and  which  assuages  their  thirst. 


LATER    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    WEST  29t 

towards  the  northern  coast.  But  a  sad  accident  turned 
their  rejoicing  into  mourning.  Charles  Stansmore 
accidentally  slipped  on  a  rock,  when  out  shooting,  and  his 
gun  going  off,  he  was  shot  through  the  heart  and  died 
instantly.  His  friend  Carnegie  speaks  most  highly  of 
him,  and  his  sudden  death  on  the  threshold  of  success 
was  a  sad  blow  to  the  company.  Stansmore  was  the  third 
explorer  to  lose  his  life  from  a  gun  accident. 

At  Hall 's  Creek  Carnegie  heard  of  the  misfortune  that 
had  befallen  Wells,  in  the  loss  of  two  of  his  party,  and 
he  at  once  volunteered  his  assistance;  but  as  search- 
parties  had  already  started  out,  his  aid  was  not  required. 
He  therefore  rested  for  a  short  time  before  again  trying 
conclusions  with  the  desert  on  the  return  journey.  Sturt's 
Creek  was  by  this  time  occupied  and  stocked,  and  the 
party  followed  it  down  until  they  arrived  at  its 
termination  in  Gregory's  Salt  Sea.  From  this  point 
Carnegie  kept  a  southerly  course  to  Lake  Macdonald 
near  the  South  Australian  border,  passing  on  his  way 
a  striking  range  which  he  named  the  Stansmore  Range, 
after  his  unfortunate  companion.  Lake  Macdonald  was 
long  thought  to  be  a  continuation  of  Lake  Amadeus,  until 
the  exploration  of  Tietkins  in  1889  proved  its  isolation. 
From  Lake  Macdonald,  Carnegie,  who  had  now  three 
horses  in  his  equipment,  kept  a  more  south-westerly 
course  towards  the  Rawlinson  Range,  the  endless  sand- 
dunes  still  crossing  his  track  in  dreary  succession.  So 
persistently  did  they  rise  across  his  path  that,  on  one 
day,  eighty-six  of  them  were  crossed  by  the  caravan 
during  a  progress  of  eight  hours.  From  the  Rawlinson 
Range  they  kept  on  the  same  south-west  course  until 
they  struck  their  outward  track  at  Alexander  Spring.  A 
fall  of  rain  fortunately  replenished  the  spring  shortly 
after  the  arrival  of  the  party.  They  reached  Lake  Darlot 
on  the  15th  of  July,  and  their  desert  pilgrimage  was 
ended. 

Not  only  did  Carnegie  get  safely  across  the  dreaded 
desert,  but  he  returned  overland  to  his  starting-point  by 
a   different   route.     He   wrote   a   book,   '^Spinifex   and 


292 


EXPLOREKS    OF    AUSTRALIA 


Sand,"  which  contains  a  most  interesting  account  of  this 
journey,  as  well  as  a  graphic  and  picturesque  description 
of  the  physical  features  of  the  Great  Sandy  Desert. 

Carnegie  died  before  he  had  made  more  than  this  one 
contribution  to  Australian  geography.  Like  the  ill-fated 
Horrocks,  he  had  the  explorer's  ardent  spirit.  His 
restless  and  adventurous  soul  ever  leading  him  onward 
to  the  frontiers  of  settlement  and  the  outskirts  of 
civilised  life,  he  fell  beneath  a  shower  of  poisoned  arrows 
at  Lokojo  in  Nigeria,  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  on  the 
27th  of  November,  1900. 


(iv.) — Hann  and   Brockman   in  the   North-West. 

The  isolation  of  that  remote  corner  of  the  continent 
in  which  Grey  had  made  his  maiden  effort  at  exploration, 

added  to  the  discouraging 
and  forbidding  report 
brought  back  by  Alexander 
Forrest  of  his  repulse  by 
the  King  Leopold  Range, 
had  deterred  further  ex- 
ploration there.  Frank  H. 
Hann,  who  had  been  a 
Queensland  pioneer,  came 
over  to  Derby,  and,  after 
one  or  two  tentative  excur- 
sions into  the  desert 
country  to  the  south,  had 
his  attention  drawn  to  the 
unknown  country  to  the 
north  of  the  King  Leopold 
Range.    Hann  crossed  the 

but 
after  examining  the  coun- 
try to  the  north  and  east  on  the  coast  side  of  the  range, 
he  was  so  well  satisfied  with  its  pastoral  capabilities  that 
he  returned  to  Derby  and  applied  for  a  pastoral  lease. 

Wishing  to  make  a  closer  examination  of  the  locality, 
he  returned  accompanied  by  Sub-Inspector  Ord.    Some  of 


Frank  Hann,  Explorer  of  the  N.W.,  and  dis-  raUgC    Wltil    aimCUlty 
coverer  of  a  stock  route  between  S.A.  and  W.A 


LATER   EXPIX)RATIOISr    IN    THE    WEST  293 

the  tributaries  of  the  Fitzroy  were  traced  and  namedy 
and  an  extensive  river,  which  Hann  called  the  Phillips, 
was  afterwards  re-named  the  Hann  by  the  Surveyor- 
General  of  Western  Australia.  One  very  rugged  range 
could  not  be  surmounted,  and  had  to  be  skirted  to  the 
east,  as  the  only  apparent  gap  was  an  impassable  gorge 
with  precipitous  sides,  through  which  the  Fitzroy  River 
forced  a  passage.  It  was  named  the  Sir  John  Range. 
After  more  good  pastoral  country  was  found,  the  party 
returned  to  Derby.  Hann  afterwards,  in  1903,  made  the 
first  of  several  trips  from  Laverton,  Western  Australia,  to 
Oodnadatta  in  South  Australia.  He  reported  having 
found  a  practicable  stock-route,  of  which  he  was  chiefly 
in  search,  as  far  as  the  Warburton  Ranges,  and  some 
pastoral  land  north  and  west  of  Elder  Creek.  Since  then 
he  made  another  journey  with  the  same  object  in  view, 
but  encountered  extremely  dry  weather  and  underwent 
many  hardships.  Hann  was  born  in  Wiltshire,  in  1846, 
and  came  to  Victoria  with  his  parents  at  a  very  early 
age.  He  spent  most  of  his  life  squatting  in  North 
Queensland,  where  he  held  several  station  properties. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  present  century  the  Western 
Australian  Government  followed  up  Hann's  explorations 
north  of  the  King  Leopold  Range,  by  a  larger  and  better- 
equipped  party  instructed  ^  to  make  a  thorough 
examination  of  the  region.  It  was  placed  in  charge  of 
F.  S.  Brockman,  a  Government  surveyor,  who  had  with 
him  C.  CrQssland  as  second,  F,  House  as  naturalist,  and 
Gibbs  Maitland  as  geologist. 

Brockman  was  born  in  Western  Australia  in  1857,  was 
educated  at  Bishop 's  College,  and  after  a  spell  in  the  bush 
on  his  father's  properties,  he  joined  a  Government 
Survey  camp,  as  cadet.  In  1879  he  started  as  surveyor 
on  his  own  account.  From  1882  to  1897  he  was  employed 
by  the  Lands  and  Survey  Department  in  many  parts  of 
Western  Australia  from  Cambridge  Gulf  in  the  north  to 
the  Great  Bight  in  the  south.  At  the  time  when  he 
was  selected  to  lead  the  Kimberley  expedition,  he  was 
Controller  of  the  Field  Survey  Staff. 


S94         '-  -  .  EXPLOEEES  OF  AUSTEALIA 

,  Brockman  was  most  successful  in  securing  full  infor- 
mation of  tliis  long-secluded  region;  of  its  geographical, 
geological,  and  botanical  details.  Many  interesting 
photographs  were  obtained  of  the  different  physical 
features  and  of  the  aborigines  and  their  modes  of  life ; 
amongst  them  being  views  of  rock  paintings  similar  to 
the  mysterious  scenes  noticed  by  Grey  during  his  first 
expedition  to  the  Glenelg  Kiver. 


From  a  photograph  by  F.  S.  Brockman. 
Aboriginal  Rock  Painting  on  the  Glenelg  Eiver. 

The  party  left  Wyndham  on  Cambridge  Gulf  and 
proceeded  first  southwards  and  then  to  the  westward 
to  the  Charnley  Eiver,  which  had  been  discovered  by 
Frank  Hann.  The  tributary  waters  of  the  Glenelg  and 
Prince  Regent  Rivers,  and  the  tidal  rivers  that  flow  into 
Collier  and  Doubtful  Bays  were  also  visited,  and 
Brockman  traced  the  Roe  River  from  its  source  to  its 
outflow  in  Prince  Frederick  Harbour.  The  Moran  River 
was  discovered,  and  its  whole  course  traced  to  the  mouth 
in  the  same  inlet.  The  head  waters  of  the  King  Edward 
River  were  discovered  at  the  watershed;  and  this  river 
was  again  met  lower  down  and  its  course  traced  to  its 


LATEE    EXPLORATION    IN    THE    WEST 


295 


exit.  Portions  of  the  shores  of  Admiralty  Grulf, 
Vanstittart,  and  Napier  Broome  Bay  were  closely 
examined  with  a  view  to  selecting  a  suitable  port  for  the 
district.  The  most  important  practical  result  of  the 
expedition  was  the  discovery  of  an  area  of  six  million 
acres  of  basaltic  pastoral  country  covered  with  blue  grass, 
Mitchell  and  kangaroo  grasses,  and  many  varieties  af 


Typical  Australian  Explorers  of  the  early  Twentieth  Century. 

what  is  known  as  top  feed.  No  auriferous  country  was 
found,  but  some  fine  specimens  of  the  baobab  tree  were 
seen,  some  of  them  averaging  fifty  feet  in  diameter. 


We  have  now  turned  the  last  page  of  the  story  of  those 
bold  spirits  who  played  no  mean  part  in  the  making  of 
Australasia  by  exploring  the  continent.  For  nearly  a 
century  and  a  quarter  the  white  man  had  been  restlessly 
searching  out  and  traversing  every  square  mile  of  the 


296 


EXPLOREKS    OF    AUSTRALIA 


land,  and  now,  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century, 
his  work  is  finished.  And  throughout  the  long  struggle 
it  had  ever  been  a  stubborn  conflict  between  the  explorer 
and  the  inert  forces  of  Nature.  Through  the  weary  toil- 
some years  of  arduous  discovery,  Man  and  Nature  had 
seldom  marched  side  by  side  as  friends  and  allies.  When 
Nature  posed  as  the  explorer's  friend  and  guide,  it  was 
often  only  to  lure  him  on  with  a  smiling  face  to  his  doom. 
From  the  days  when  the  soldier  of  King  George  the  Third 
went  forth  with  his  firelock  on  his  shoulder,  computing 

the  distance  he  covered  by 
wearily  counting  the  number 
of  paces  he  trudged,  to  the 
day  when  the  modern  adven- 
turer aloft  on  his  camel 
eagerly  scans  the  horizon  of 
the  red  desert  in  search  of 
the  distant  smoke  of  a  native 
fire,  and  then  patiently 
tracks  the  naked  denizen  of 
the  wilderness  to  his  hoarded 
rock-hole  or  scanty  spring, 
the  explorer  has  ever  had  to 
fight  the  battle  of  discovery 
unaided  by  Nature.  The 
aborigines  generally  either 
feigned  ignorance  of  the 
nature  of  the  country,  or  gave  only  false  clues  and 
misguiding  directions.  Even  the  birds  and  animals  of 
the  untrodden  regions  seemed  to  resent  the  advance  of 
civilization,  and  to  delight  in  leading  the  footsteps  of  the 
white  intruder  astray.  Hence  it  was  by  slow  degrees,  by 
careful  study  of  the  work  of  his  predecessors  in  the 
field,  and  often  by  heeding  the  warning  conveyed  in  their 
unhappy  fate,  that  the  Australian  explorer  added  to  the 
sum  of  knowledge  of  his  country,  and  step  by  step 
unveiled  the  hidden  mysteries  of  the  continent. 


Ernest  Giles. 


INDEX   OF   NAMES   OF   PEESONS. 


Andrews,  217 

Ashton,  282 

Austin,  254,  264-7,  268 


Babbags;,  169-175 

Bagot,  Walter,  89 

Baines,  247-8 

Baker,  253 

Bannister,  237 

Barallier,  4 

Barclay,  H.  V.,  227,  229 

Barker,  Capt.,  234 

Barrett,  121 

Bass,  5,  13 

Baxter,  144-6 

Beckler,  Dr.  H.,  189 

Beckler,  Dr.  L.,  189 

Bedart,  244 

Berry,  Alex.,  44 

Binney,  125 

Black,  ■Wm.,38 

Bladen,  F.  M.,  6 

Bland,  245 

Blaxland,  7-15,  17 

Bonney,  135-6 

Boyd,  Thos.,  49 

Bourne,  200,  209 

Bowen,  Governor,  124 

Breardon,  281 

Brahe,  192  et  seq. 

Briggs,  225 

Brisbane,  Governor,  44 

Brockman,  238,  257,  292-6 

Brown,  Kenneth,  264 

Brown,  Maitland,  257  et  seq. 

Browne,  Dr.,  156,  161,  164,  166,  170 

Buchanan,  N.,  223,  224,  287 

Bunbury,  237 

Burgess,  244 

Burke,  122, 179, 184, 185, 186-200,  202 


CAiiVERT  (Leichhardt),  102 

Calvert,  285 

Cameron,  93 

Campbell  (South  Australia),  170, 172 

Campbell,  152 

Carmichael,  S.,216 

Carnegie,  D.  W.,  281,  285-292 

Carjienter,  120 

Carr-Boyd,  224,  228,  281 

Carron,  114,  119 

Cayley,  5, 13 

Clarke,  A.  W.  B.,  105 

Clarke  ("  The  Barber  "),  78 

Classen, 106 

Clayton,  69,  74 

Collie,  Alex.,  234 

Collins,  Capt.,  2 

Cowderoy,  125 

Cox,  19 

Crossland,  293 

Cunningham,  123,  205 

Cunningham,  Allan,  26,  29,  50-58,  77,  79 

Cunninghana,  Richard,  80-2 

Currie,  Capt.,  43 


Dale,  Ensign,  237 

Dalrymple,  123 

Darling,  Governor,  60,  75,  233 

Davis,  R.  N.,  234 

Dawes,  Lieut.,  3,  4 

Delisser,  172 

Dempster,  270 

Dixon,  80 

Dobson,  Capt.,  121 

Douglas,  119 

Dunn,  115 

Dutton,  172 


Ebden,  135 

Elder,  Sir  Thos.,  209,  218,  223,  282 

Elsey,  J.  R.,247 

Eulah,  129 

Evans,  G.  W.,  14,  16-22.  26,  36,  37,  233 

Eyre,  88,  89,  135-150,  154, 156,  169,  236,  258,  270 


Farmer,  Charles,  265 

Favenc,  Ernest,  224-6,  227 

Finch,  79 

Finnegan,  40 

Fitzgerald,  Governor,  245- 

Flinders,  39,  146 

Flood,  163 

Forrest,  Alex.,  227,  270,  274,  276,  279-280,  292 

Forrest,  Sir  John,  221,  267-278,  284 

Fraser,  69 

Eraser,  Charles,  26,  56,  234 

Freeling,  171 

Fremantle,  234 

Frome,  Capt.,  151, 169 


Gardiner,  135 

Gibbu,  Jimmy,  93 

Gibson,  Alfred,  217,  221,  283 

Gilbert,  101-2 

Giles,  214,  215,  216-222,  278,  282,  284,  296 

Gipps,  Governor,  89,  94 

Gosse,  W.  C,  213-5,  218,  277,  278 

Goyder,  170 

Grant,  Lieut.  J.,  5. 

Grant,  Harper,  and  Anderson,  213 

Gray,  190  et  seq.,  201,  202 

Gregory,  A.  C,  102,  106,  173,  186,  189,  193,  205, 

207,  210,  242,  253,  287 
Gregory,  Frank,  212,  242,  243,  253-263 
Gregory,  H.  C,  173-4,  242,  243,  244,  247 
Grey,  Sir  G.,  176,  235,  237-242 


Hack,  Stephen,  172 
Hack,  5 
Hamilton,  135 
Hann,  Frank,  292-6 
Hann,  Wm.,  130 
Harding,  257  et  seq. 
Hardwicke,  172 
Harris,  J.,  68,  69 
Harris,  Dr.,  33 
Harris  (Babbage),  173 
Hart,  Capt.,  137 


297 


298 


INDEX    OF   NAMES   OF   PERSONS 


Hawdon,  Joseph,  135-6 

Hawker,  152 

Hawson,  Capt.,  142 

Hedley,  G.,  225 

Helpuian,  Lieut. ,  244 

Hely,  Hovenden,  107 

Hentig,  106 

Henty,  88,  137 

Hergott,  178 

Hey  wood,  152 

Hindinarsh,  Governor,  135 

Hodgkinson,  203,  223 

Hopkinson,  69,  74 

Horrocks,  152-3 

House,  293 

Hovell,  Capt.,  46 

Howitt,  196,  198 

Hughes,  Walter,  209 

Hughes,  152 

Hulkes,  169 

Hume,  H.,  21,  ,39,  42-49,  62,  63,  67,  82,  153 

Hume,  K.,  42 

Hunter,  Capt.,  2 


Ibby,  '244 


.Tacky-Jacky,  114-5,  121 
Jardiue,  Alec,  124 
Jardine,  Frank,  124 
Jardine,  John,  124 
Johns,  Adam,  226 
Johnson, 4 
Johnston,  Capt.,  2 
Jones,  G.  L.,  286  et  seq. 


Kekwick,  180 

Kelly,  106 

Kennedy,  E.  B.,  89,  90,  91,  110  et  seq.,  186,  253 

King  (Burke  and  Wills),  190  et  seq.,  202 

King,  Governor,  5 

King,  Lieut.  P.  P.,  38,  51,  234 

King,  Private,  244 

Kyte,  Ambrose,  187 


Landells,  G.  J.,  188 

Landsborough,  W.,  200,  206-8 

Lang,  4 

Langbourne, 135 

Larmer,  80 

Lawson,  Lieut.  W.,  10-15,  52 

Leech,  283 

Leichhardt,  77,  90,  95-109,  125,  207,  228,  250,  252 

Leslie,  P.,  95 

Lewis,  209  et  seq.,  222-3 

Light,  Colonel,  135 

Lindesay,  Sir  P.,  78 

Lindsay,  David,  227,  282-284 

Lockeyer,  233 

Logan,  Capt.,  56,  58 

Luff,  115 

Lukin,  Gresley,  224 

Lushington,  Lieut.,  237 

Lynd,  R.,  96,  100, 125, 131 


MacLeary,  G.,  68-9,  71 

Macnianee,  69 

Macphee,  227 

Macpherson,  R.,  2-29 

Macquarie,  Governor,  19,  21,  30,  34,  43 

Maitland.  293 

Mann,  J.  F.,  104, 109 

Marsh,  James,  20 

Massie,  290 

Matthews,  93 

McKinlay,  190.  200,  201-6 


McMillan,  Angas,  93 

Meehan,  38,  43 

Meekleham,  244 

Miller,  172 

Mills,  W.W., 290 

Mitchell,  Commissioner,  89 

Mitchell,  Sir  Thos.,  35,  76-92,  101,  104, 110, 136, 

153,  156,  252 
Mitchell  (Kennedy's  expedition)  120 
Moore,  237 

Mueller,  Baron  von.,  216et  seq.,  247  et  seq. 
Mulcay,  282,  267 
Mulholland,  69,  74 
Murray,  Sir  G.,  75 
Myalls,  80 


Neilson  and  Williams,  208 
Niblett,  120 

Nicholson,  Trooper,  287 
Nicholson,  Wm.,  96 


Oakden,  169 
O'Donnell,  228,  281 
Ord,  287,  292 
Ovens,  Major,  43 
Overlanders,  135 

Oxley,  17,  21,  22,   23-41,  43,  51,  53,  60,  68,  76, 
85,86 


Pai.meb,  4 

Pamphlet,  39 

Parry,  174 

Parsons,  40 

Patterson,  4 

Patton,  192,  198 

Peron,  5 

Phillij),  Governor,  1-4 

Piesse,  167 

Poole,  156-7,  161,  170,  265 

Preston,  Lieut.,  234 

Prout.  223-4 

Purcell,  198 


Robinson,  152 

Robinson  (Giles)  216 

Roe,  233-7,  254,  256 

Roper,  102 

Rossitur,  Capt.,  142, 149 

Rudall,  288 

Russell,  Stuart,  95,  98 


Saunders,  P.,  2-26 
Scarr,  F.,  224.  227 
Scott,  52 
Scrutton,  125 
Scully,  Capt.,  243 
Smith,  Wm.,  142 
Smith  (Grey)  241 
Somer,  123,  205 
Stanley,  Capt.,  112 
Stanley,  Lord,  89 
Stansmore,  291 
Stapylton,  88 
Stephenson,  W.,  89 
Stirling,  39,  40,  234,  239 
Stock,  172 

.Stockdale,  H.,  228,  282 
Stone,  198 

Stokes,  Capt.,  91, 102,  238 
Strzelecki,  Count,  94 
Stuart,  106, 156,  161,  174,  175-185,  186,  227 
Sturt,  Capt.   23,  35,  59,  75,  77,  80,  82,  85,  88, 103, 

136,  153-168,  175,  204,  233,  253,  258 
Swinden,  172 


INDEX    OF    NAMES    OP    PERSONS 


299 


Tate,  130 

Taylor  (geologist),  130 

Taylor,  120 

Tench,  Capt.,  3,  4 

Thompson,  172 

Thring,  184 

Throsby,  43 

Tietkins,  W.  H.,  217  et  seq.,  222  et  sea.,  291 

Tommy  (Giles)  220 

Trigg,  S.,  253 

Uniacke,  39 

Vallack,  121 
Vancouver,  233 


Walcott,  244 
Walker,  Dr.,  241 
Walker,  Frederick,  122,  200,  208 
Wall,  120 
Wannon,  R.,  137 

Warburton,  Major,  29, 172, 174,  178,  208-13,  214, 
218,221,286 


Warburton,  Richard,  209 
Warner,  131 
Warrigals,  93 
Welch  196  ef  seq. 
Wentworth,  W.C.,  10-15,  22 
White,  Surgeon,  2 
Wickhaui,  Capt.,  58 
Wild,  Joseph,  43 
Wells,  L.  A.,  282,  284,  285-292 
Wells,  C.  F.,  286  et  seq. 
Wills,  122,  185,  186-200,  202 
Wilson,  Dr.  J.  B.,234 
Wilson,  J.  S.,  247 
Windich,  Tommy,  274 
Wood,  Chas.,  241 
Worgan,  Surgeon,  4 
Wright,  193 
Wylie,  147-8 


YouxG,  218 


ZoucH,  Lieut., 


INDEX   OF   PLACE   NAMES. 


Abundance,  Mt.,  90 

Adder  Water-holes,  226 

Adelaide,  135,  273 

Adelaide  E.,  184 

Admiralty  Gulf,  295 

Albany,  242 

Albany  Pass,  118, 124 

Albany,  Port,  113 

Alberfja  E.,  215,  217 

Albert  E.,  102,  123,  190,  200,  204,  206,  250,  290 

Albury,  47 

Alexander  Springs,  277,  281,  290,  291 

Alexandria  L.,  73,  138 

Alfred  and  Marie  Eange,  221 

Alice  Springs,  209.  213,  222,  227 

Alps,  Australian,  47 

Amadeus,  L  ,  214,  216,  222,  291 

Anson  Bay,  206 

Anthony  Lagoon,  226 

Arbuthnot  Eange,  36,  54 

Archer  E.,  128 

Arden,  Mt.  139,  142,  154,  178 

Arnhem's  Laud,  228 

Arthur  E.,  227 

Ashburton  Eange,  182, 185 

AshburtonE.,221,257 

Attack  Creek,  181 

Augusta,  L.,  276,  286 

Augusta,  Port.  173 

Augustus,  Mt.,  255,  257 

Australia  Felix,  84-88,  90 

Australian  Alps,  47 

Australian  Bight,  145-9,  270 

Australian  Sea  (inland),  35,  40 

Avoca  R.,  87 

Ayer's  Eock,  214 


Ballone  E.,  89,  90, 105 

Barcoo  E.,  88-92,  104,  106,  111,   122,    173,   186 

251  et  seq- 
Barlee,  L.,  268 
Barrier  Eange,  158 
BataviaE.,  128 
Bathurst,  19,  21,92 
Bathurst's  Falls,  37 
Bathurst,  L.,  43 
Beagle  Bay,  279 
Becket's  Cataract,  37 
Beltana,  218 
Belyando  R.,  253 
Benson,  Mt.,  138 
Bernier  Island,  239 
Berimma,  42 
Birdum,  183 
Blackheath,  13 
Blackwood  E.,  243 
Blanche,  L.,  170,  201,  203,  253 
Blaxland,  Mt.,  14 
Blue  Mud  Bay,  228 
Blue  Mts.,  3,  4  et  seq. 
Bogan  E.,  63,  80 
Bolgart  Springs,  243 
Bonney,  L.,  136, 181 
Bonythorn  Range,  222 
Boundary  Dam,  219 
Bourke,  82,  89 
Bo  wen.  Port,  39 


Bowen  Eiver,  205 

Boyne  E.,  39 

Braeside,  288 

Brinkley  Bluff,  179 

Brisbane  E.,  39,  41 

Broadsound,  206 

Brodie's  Camp,  181 

Brown,  L.,235 

Brown,  Mt.,208 

Broken  Bay,  1,  2 

Bruce,  Mt.,  255,  257 

Buchan  E.,  93 

Buchanan's  Creek,  224-5 

Buchanan  Creek,  228,  282 

Bulloo,  192 

Burdekin  E.,  101, 123,  124,  205,  261 

Buree,  89 

Burt's  Creek,  210 


Caebmarthen  Hills,  1 

Caledonia  Australis,  94 

Cambridge  Gulf,  51,  278,  280  et  seq. 

Campbell  R.,  18, 19 

Canning  Downs,  55 

Carnarvon  Range,  274 

Careening  Bay,  51 

Carpentaria  Downs,  125 

Carpentaria,  Gulf,  89,  91,  101,  111,  123, 189,  251 

Cassini  Is.,  51 

Castlereagh  E.,  35,  64,  66 

Cecil  Plains,  105 

Central  Mt.  Stuart  (Sturt),  180,  209 

Chambers's  Creek,  174,  176, 178,  179, 182 

Chambers  Pillar,  179,  216 

Chambers  Eiver,  183 

Charlotte  Waters,  215 

Charnley  R.,  294 

Chauvel's  Station,  104 

Claude  E.,  91,  106 

Cloncurry  R..  190,  223 

Cockburn  Sound,  234 

Coen  R.,  128 

Cogoon  R.,90,  106 

Collier  B.,  294 

Comet  Creek,  101,  206 

Condamine  R.,  55,  95,  101,  103 

Coolgardie,  289 

Cooper's  Creek,  89,  92,  107,  111,  165,  175,  186, 

189, 196,  201,  2.50  et  seq. 
Corella  Lagoon,  225 
Cowcowing,  264  et  seq. 
Cox,  E.,  10 
Cresswell  Creek,  225 
Culgoa,  R.,89,  90,  112 
Cunninghain's  Gap,  58 
Curtis,  Port,  39 


Daly,  R.,206 

Daly  Waters  Creek,  183,  227,  280 

Dami)ier's  Land,  2,87 

Darling  Downs.  55,  88,  95,  lOO,  103 

Darling  R.,  64-7,  70,  77,  78,  80,  82,  84,  87,  112, 

154,  192,  253 
Darlot,  L.,  289,  291 
Davenport  Eange.  174, 178 
Dawson  E.,  101,  130,  251 


300 


INDEX    OP    PLACE    NAMES 


301 


Deception,  Mt.,  143 
De  Grey  R.,  258,  262,  279 
Denison,  Port,  205 
Denmark  E.,  234 
Depot  Glen,  158  et  sea. 
Derby,  292 

Diamantina  E.,  204,  223,  225 
Dorre  Is.,  239 
Doubtful  Bay.  294 
Douglas  Creek,  174 
Doyle's  Well,  289 
Dumaresque  E.,  54 


East  Alligator  E.,  206 
Einnesleigh  E.,  125 
Elder  Creek,  293 
Elizabeth,  L.,  170,  172,  174 
Elsey  Creek,  107-8,  250 
Empress  Spring,  290 
Emu  Is.,  17 
Endeavour  E..  131 
Escape  E.,  115, 129 
Escape  Cliffs,  206 
Esperance  B.,  270,  279 
Essington,  Port,  101,  103,  250 
Eucla,  270,  272 
Euroomba,  251 
Eva  Springs,  210 
Everard  E.,  223 
Exmouth,  Mt.,36 
Eyre,  Lake,  174,  178,  223 
Eyre's  Creek,  164,  190,  123 


Farmer,  Mt.,  265 

Fincke  Creek,  179,  181,  210,  229 

Fincke,  Mt.,  176 

Fish  B.,  18 

Fitzgerald  R.,237 

Fitzniaurice  E.,  247 

Fitzroy  E..  101,  226,  251,  278,  279,  287,  293 

Fletcher's  Creek,  124 

Flinders  Range,  143 

Hinders  E.,  122.  190,  208 

Flood's  Creek,  158, 166 

Flying  Fox  Creek,  183 

Fortescue  E.,  256,  258 

Fossilbrook,  131 

Fowler's  Bay,  144, 172,  176 

Frances,  L.,  208 

Eraser's  Range,  283 

Freniantle,  239,  256 

Freeling,  Mt.,  180 

Frew's  Pond,  183 

Frew  R  ,  179 

Frome,  L.,  151 


Gaiedner  L.,  172,  173,  176 

Gantheaume  B.,  240 

Gascoyne  R.,  221,  240,  244,  254  et  sea-  264 

Gawler  Range,  172 

Geelong,  48 

Geographe  Bay,  234 

George  the  Fourth,  Port,  238 

George,  L.,  43,  46 

Georgina  E.,  207,  223,  224-5 

Geraldine, 254-5,  266 

Gibson's  Desert,  218 

Gibson's  Station,  178 

Gilbert,  E.,  125,251 

Gippsland,  93 

Glenelg,  E.,  88,  137,  176,  238,  294 

Gnamoi,  E.,  78 

Godfrey's  Tank,  290 

Goulburn  Plains,  44,  69 

Goulburn  E.,  47,  136 

Grampian  Mts.,  137 

Great  Australian  Desert,  249 


Gregory,  L.  (Eyre),  174 
Gregory  R.,  207 
Grey  Fort,  161,  164 
Grose,  R.,  8, 10 
Gundagai,  68 
Gwydir  R.,  79 


Hale  R.,  227 

Hall's  Creek,  290 

Hamilton  Springs,  181 

Hampton  Range,  272 

Hammersley  Range,  255,  257,  258 

Hann  E.,  293 

Hanover  Bay,  237 

Hanson  Bluff,  179 

Hardey  E.,  257 

Harris,  Mt.,  35,  62,  66 

Hastings  E.,  37 

Hawdon,  L.,  137 

Hawkesbury  R.,  1,  4 

Hawkesbury  Vale,  62 

Hay  R.,  229.  235 

Haystack,  Mt.,  93 

Helena  Spring,  290 

Hopeless,  Mt.,  143,  151,  188,  193,  253 

Herbert  R.,  207,  223 

Hergott  Springs,  178 

Hermit  Range,  174 

Hovell  R.,  47 

Hugh  R.,  181,  210 

Hume,  R.,44,  70,  87 

Hunter  R.,  21,  53,  100, 103 


Illawarra  L.,  6 
Impey  E.,  254 
Inland  Sea,  35,  40 
Irwin  E.,  244 
Isaacs  E.,  101, 104,  206 
Israelite  B.,  270 


Jaevis  Bay,  38 

Jervois  Ranges,  227 

Jimbour.  100 

Joanna  Springs,  29,  286  et  sea. 


Kalgan  R.,  235 

Karaula  R.  (Darling),  79,  82 

Katherine  Creek,  183.  228 

Katherine  Station,  228 

Kenneth.  Mt.,  264 

Kilgour  R..  227 

Kimberley,  228.  278,  280  et  sea. 

Kindur  R.,  78 

King  Edward  R..  294 

King  George's  Sound,  51,  52,  144,  149,  233 

King  Leopold  Range,  279,  292 

Kintore  Range,  222 

Kojunup  E.,  243 


Lacepede  B.,  138 

Lachlan  E.,  6, 19-21,  26,  30,  35,  40,  51,  ( 

233 
Lagoons.  Valley  of,  101, 123 
Laidley's  Ponds,  156,  157 
Lansdowne  Hills,  1 
La  Trobe  E.,  94 
Laverton,  293 

Leichhardt  R.,  102,  202,  204,  251 
Leisler,  Mt.,  222 
Leschenhault  R.,  239 
Limestone,  58 

Lincoln,  Port,  139,  142,  144,  149 
Lindsay.  Mt.,  234 
Lindsay  E.,  137 
Little,  Mt.,  208 


a,  85, 


30^ 


INDEX   OF   PLACE    NAMES 


Liverpool  Plains,  36, 52, 78  "  ■       ."     . 

Liverpool  Range,  37  , 

Loddon,  R.,  87 

Lofty,  Mt..  136  ,.     , 

Logan  Vale,  56 

Lyons,  R.,  255,  257 

Macallistkr  R.,  94 

Macarthur  R.,  227 

Macdonnel  Range,  179,  210,  214,  227,  229 

Macdonald,  L.,  212,  291 

Macedon,  Mt.,  88 

Mackenzie,  R.,  101, 104,  251 

Macquarie,  Port,  37,  39 

Macquarie  R,  15, 18,  22,  30-34,  40,  63,  233 

Maneroo,  43 

Manning  R.,  38 

MaranoaR.,90,  91, 110  ,  ' 

Margaret  R.,  280 

Margaret,  Mt.,  105,  269 

Marshall  R.,  227,  229 

Marryat  R.,215 

Mary  L.,  208 

Massacre  L.,  202 

McConnel,  Mt..  205 

Mclntyre's  Brook,  55 

McKinlay's  Range,  204 

McPherson's  Station,  106 

Menindie,  189 

Midway  Well,  286 

Mitchell  R.,  94,  127, 131, 154,  251 

Monaro,  53 

Monger,  Mt.,  283 

Moran,  R.,  294 

Moreton  Bay,  39,  53,  56, 100,  247 

Moore  L.,  244,  267 

Moore  R.,244 

Moorundi,  156 

Muckadilla  Creek,  106 

Mueller,  Fort,  278,  283 

Mueller  Creek,  190,  204 

Muirhead,  Mt.,  138 

Mulligan  R.,  223 

Murchison  R.,  221,  237,  245,  253  et  seq.,  265, 

267,  273,  283 
Murray  R.,  44,  70,  83,  84.  86,  135-6,  150, 153 
Murrumbidgee  R.,  30,  43,  46,  53,  68-70,  74,  85, 

86,153 
Musgrove  Range,  214 

Namoi  R.,  78 

Napier  Broome  Bay,  295 

Narran  R.,  89 

Nattai,  6 

Naturaliste,  C,  235 

Neale  Creek,  178 

Nepean  R.,  4,  6,  15, 17, 19 

Newcastle  Waters,  182-3.  185,  227 

New  Year's  Creek,  63 

New  Zealand,  46,  53,  58,  75 

Nicholson  R.,  94,  207 

Nicholson  Plains,  280 

Nickol  B.,  256,  262 

Nive  R.,  262 

NogoaR..91 

Norfolk  Is.,  58  75 

Norman  R.,  123,  204 

Normanby  R.,  131 

Northumberland  C,  27,  88 

Nundawar  Range,  78 

Oakoveb  R.,  209,  211,  213,  258,  261,  288 

Oaldabinna  218 

Olga,  Mt.,216 

Oodnadatta,  229,  293 

Ord  R.,  278,  280 

Ovens  R.,  47 

Oxley's  Tableland,  63 


Paxlinup  R.,  236 

Palmer  R.,  131, 132 

Pandora's  Pass,  52 

Peak  Downs,  101 

Peak  Station,  221,  278 

Pearce  Point,  247 

Peel's  Plains.  55 

Peel  Range,  28,  29,  30 

Peel  R.,  36 

Pernatty,  172 

Perth,  209,  213,  235,  241,  244,  255.  270.  27» 

Phillip  Is..  58 

Phillips  Creek,  180 

Phillips  R.,  293 

Planet  Creek,  101 

Plenty  R.,  227,  229 

Poole,  Mt.,  161 

Portland  Bay,  88 

Powell's  Creek,  226 

Prince  Frederick  Harbour,  294 

Prince  Regent's  River,  237,  294 

Princess  Charlotte  B.,  131 

Pudding  Pan  Hill,  129 

Pumice  Stone  R.,  39 

Queen  Charlotte  Vale,  19 

Raffles  Bay,  234 
Ragged,  Mt.,  279 
Ranken  R.,  224 
Rannes,  251 

Rawlinson  Ranges,  281,  291 
Red  Hill,  161 
Remarkable,  Mt.,  173 
Richmond  Hill,  2  ' 
Riley,  Mt.,  236 
Rockhampton,  123, 124,  200 
Rockingham  Bay,  112, 123 
Roe  R.,  294 

Roebourne,  213,  226,  281 
Roebuck  Bay,  278 
Roper  R.,  102, 108, 183,  2.50 
Rossitur  Vale,  142 
Rudall  R.,  289 
Russell  Range,  236 


Samson,  Mt.,  257 

Saxby  R.,  123 

Seaview,  Mt.,  37 

Segenhoe,  53,  56 

Separation  Well.  286,  288 

Serle,  Mt.,  151.  157 

Shark's  Bay,  239,  255,  265 

Shaw  R.,  258 

Shelburne  Bay,  115,  119, 131 

Sherlock  R..  262 

Shoalhaven  R.,  21,  43,  44,  53 

Sir  John  Range,  293 

Somerset,  124,  127,  129 

South  Australia,  135 

Spencer's  Gulf.  139-40 

Squires,  Mt.,  283 

Stansmore  Range,  291 

Staaten  R.,  126 

Stephens,  Port,  38 

Stevenson  Creek,  179 

St.  George's  Range,  278 

St.  George's  Rocks,  90,  91, 100 

St.  Vincent's  Gulf,  135 

Stony  Desert,  162 

Strangways  Creek,  183 

Strathalbyn,  123 

Streaky  Bay,  139, 144, 172 

Strzelecki  Creek,  162, 165,  253 

Sturt's  Creek,  210,  249  et  seq.,  287,  291 

Sutton  R.,  101 

Swan  Hill,  87 

Swan  R.,  140,  1.53,  234,  237,  264 

Swinden's  Country,  172, 175 


INDEX    OP    PLACE    NAMES 


303 


Tambo  R.,  93 

Tate  R.,  131 

Tench  R.,  4 

Tennant's  Creek,  181,  224 

Termination  Hill,  40 

Thistle  Cove,  149 

Thompson's  Station,  178 

Thomson  R.,  107, 108,  111,  122,  W6,  252,  253 

Timor,  237 

Torrens,  L.,  135,  139,  140,  151-3,  156,  161, 

173,  174,  178,  201,  253 
Tumut  R.,  68 
Tweed  R.,  39 


Vanstittabt  Bay,  295 

Victoria  (Port  Essington),  103 

Victoria,  84 

Victoria,  Lake,  94, 156 

Victoria  R.  (Barcoo),  91,   110-2,  180,  205, 

et  seq.,  280 
Victoria  Spring,  220,  283 


Walsh  R.,  131 
Warburton  Creek,  213 
Warburton  Desert,  289 
Warburton  Range,  293 
Warning,  Mt.,  56 
Warragamba  R.,  8, 10, 14 
Warrego  R.,  91, 107. 112,  208 
Waterloo  Wells,  210 


247 


Weathered  Hill,  170 
Welbundinum,  284 
Welcome.  Mt.,  266 
Weld  Springs,  374,  276 
Wellbeing,  245 
Wellington  Valley,  33,  62 
Western  Port,  46,  94 
Weymouth  Bay,  114, 119, 121 
Whaby's  Station,  68 
Williams  R.,  239 
Williora  R„  154, 157 
Williorara,  167 
Wimmera  R.,  88, 137 
Windich  Springs,  274 
Wingillpin,  175 
Woodhouse  Lagoon,  290 
Woolloomooloo,  50 
Wyndham,  294 


Yabbagtng,  268 
Yass  Plains,  43,  84 
Yilgarn  235 
York,  C.  112,  123 
York,  Mt.,  14 
Yorke  Peninsula,  222 
Youldeh,  218 
Yuin,  273 
Yule  R..  262 


Zamia  Creek,  101 


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